Suspicions
by rawr94
Summary: Kurt becomes suspicious of Santana and Brittany's relationship and just general Brittana fluffiness.  Brittany/Santana, Santana/Kurt friendship and Santana/Karofsky friendship.
1. Chapter 1

Kurt woke earlier than the rest of the glee club members in the room. Mercedes was curled up beside him on her side of the bed. How Kurt ended up bunking with the girls was an interesting story and a confusing one if you were Mr Schuester.

Mr Schue had been wondering how to split the rooms up between girls and boys when two of his male members were in a relationship with each other. He had never had a situation like this occur before and therefore had no idea how to remedy it without seeming like some kind of bigot. So he did the only thing he could think of, and asked Kurt and Blaine what they thought about the subject. Blaine, ever sensible, understood and pointed out that some of the other boys in glee club may feel uncomfortable if they knew that two gay boys were sleeping in the same room with them and in the same bed with each other. Kurt had said to Mr Schue that even though he would like to stay with Blaine he too saw that there may be problems with the other boys and said that he wouldn't mind bunking with the girls. Mercedes, who had apparently been eavesdropping on the conversation, piped in by saying that she would be happy to share a bed with Kurt and that the girls all thought of him as one of them anyway. Kurt didn't say anything to this, as he was unsure of whether or not to take it as a compliment.

That was how Kurt had ended sleeping in the girls' room and waking up next to Mercedes. He looked around the room and decided, after seeing various states of deep sleep, that no-one else would be awake for a while. He stood and started to make his way toward the communal kitchen that the girls, boys and Mr Schue would be sharing. As he passed the bed that Santana and Brittany were occupying he stopped to stare down at them. He raised a single manicured eyebrow at the sight of Santana lying behind Brittany with an arm around her waist. Their fingers were intertwined on top of Brittany's stomach. He passed it off as two very close friends seeking comfort from each other in order to quash the nervousness they all felt over their up-coming Regionals performance. With that thought he left the room to go get breakfast.

Santana woke the familiar smell of Brittany and the soft feel of Brittany's hair against her face. She smiled down at Britt through groggy, sleep filled eyes. Brittany was sound asleep and probably would be for a while. Santana herself was an early riser and she decided that she should get up and go get some breakfast before any of the other girls – and Kurt – got up to do the same and saw the very interesting position she and Brittany had curled themselves into. She surveyed the room, almost laughing when she saw Quinn curled up in the fetal position on the side of the bed furthest away from Berry, and noticed that the only one missing from the group was Kurt.

Santana wasn't too scared at what he might or might not have seen between her and Brittany. When she woke up, yes they had been spooning, but hey, she was sure that it wasn't that unusual a thing for friends to do if they were really close. Besides he probably didn't even pay attention to them anyway.

She slowly extracted herself from the ever comfortable position she had been in so she didn't wake Brittany and made her way out to kitchen to make herself something to eat. Kurt had obviously had the same idea as she did, because when she got out there he was already sitting at the island counter eating a bowl of some kind of cereal. He looked up when she entered and gave her a grunt of greeting. She muttered something in return and set about finding something edible in the fridge. She finally settled on making herself an omelette. After she had finished cooking the omelette she sat down beside Kurt and ate in silence. They both finished their food around the same time. Apparently Kurt wasn't that fast of an eater.

Kurt frowned at Santana as began to make another omelette. For such a skinny girl she sure ate a lot. He asked her why she was so hungry. She just looked at him like he was stupid.

"It's obviously for Brittany, _Lady_," she replied coldly and continued her cooking.

Kurt wasn't put off by Santana's snide attitude anymore. He had more or less gotten used to it now.

"You two are pretty close, huh?" He asked casually, watching her carefully. She stiffened at the question and angrily flipped the omelette in its pan.

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" She hissed softly.

"Nothing," he replied, "you two just looked really close this morning, that's all."

"Well, number one: we're best friends. Number two: you should learn to mind your own business." Santana slide the omelette out of the pan and onto a plate. She then began to cut it up into pieces that resembled triangles.

"What are you doing?" Kurt asked.

Santana glared at him for a moment before sighing and replying, "I forgot to bring Britt's duck shaped cookie cutter and when I do that, she likes it when I cut her food into triangle shapes for her."

Kurt looked at her like she was insane and went back to ready whatever girly magazine he had brought with him from the room. At that moment it seemed that all of the other girls had woken up and started to filter into the kitchen. All of the girls except Brittany.

"I'm sorry, I forgot to turn off my alarm," Rachel was saying as the other girls glared daggers at her.

"Brittany really can sleep through anything, huh?" Quinn grumbled to Santana on her way to the fridge. Santana uttered a non-committal agreement and shuffled her way into the bedroom to give Britt her breakfast. Unbeknownst to Santana, Kurt had followed under the pretence of reading his mag in peace and quiet. He was actually just curious to watch Brittany and Santana interact. He went to lie on his bed and discreetly watch the pair over his magazine.

Santana placed the plate with Britt's food on the small table beside the bed, and sat down with one leg crossed underneath her. Brittany was lying on her back and her face was the picture of serenity. Santana pushed a strand of honey blonde hair off of her face and let her hand linger for a moment longer than was necessary. A slow smile spread over her face as Britt's lips quirked up at the corners. Santana leaned down close to Brittany's ear.

"Britt," she whispered softly, "it's time to wake up, baby."

Brittany slowly opened one eye and her little smile grew bigger when she saw Santana leaning over her with an adoring grin adorning her stunning face. Santana leant down and placed the softest of kisses to Brittany's forehead and reached over to retrieve her meal as Britt sat up into a more comfortable position.

"Mm, triangles! I love that you know how much better food tastes when it's in cool shapes, San," Brittany said before bringing a forkful of omelette to her perfect lips. "Thank you." She managed to mumble around a huge mouthful of food.

Santana grinned at the girl and placed another quick kiss to her forehead before standing up.

"Bring your plate out when you're done and I'll wash it up for you."

"You don't have to do that San; you already made me triangle shaped food. I can wash up my own dishes." Brittany replied with the cutest of frowns.

Santana laughed loudly, "I know you _can _Britt, but I _want _to. You know I like doing things for you."

Brittany smiled at this and thanked her again, through another mouthful of food. Santana found herself laughing again as she made her way out in the hallway joining the bedroom to the kitchen. '_Oh, hi Kurt!' _she heard faintly from the bedroom behind her. She stopped dead in her tracks and spun around. She heard Kurt reply and his voice was getting noticeably louder. He was coming closer. When he turned into the hallway his head was turned, facing Brittany so he didn't see Santana standing there until the last minute. When he did turn around Santana's face could have frozen ice. She looked angrier than Kurt had ever seen her. She closed the minute gap between them so her nose was almost touching his. Kurt thought he had gotten over his fear of the fiery ex-cheerleader, but apparently not. He was unable to move under that ice cold glare.

"What did you see, Ladyface?" She hissed in a low, barely controlled voice.

Kurt was desperate to assert himself, to tell her to get out of his face or tell her that he had seen the way her and Brittany acted towards each other. One could say, almost like lovers. When his mouth opened though, all that came out was, "Nothing. I didn't see anything."

"You better not have." She spat before spinning on her heel and strutting down the hallway. She shot him one last look before turning the corner into the kitchen and living area. It was one of warning. But there was also something else. He could have sworn that he had seen the faintest glimmer of fear in those deep brown eyes.

Fear of what? Being pushed out of the closet perhaps? He continued his thought train until he emerged in the kitchen to find his adorable boyfriend with his arm curled around a bowl of cereal. His hair was mussed in just the right to make his bed head look sexy. Kurt rushed around the island to give Blaine a cuddle. His man came before easing the bitch queen's anxieties about him outing her.

After a few intensively boring hours of practicing and choreographing for their performance that night, Mr Schue let the group out to explore the city. He told them that he would let them roam for the afternoon if they promise to stay in one group, all of them agreed with no complaints. Naturally, as soon as they had rounded the nearest corner and were away from Mr Schuester's prying gaze they split into small groups. It didn't go unnoticed by Kurt that Brittany instantly linked pinkies with Santana and started to drag her toward the shopping district. As soon as Santana noticed him watching she glared at him with all of her Latina fury until he dropped his gaze and let himself be swept away by Blaine, Mercedes and Tina, who were set on getting something for lunch.

Once they were away from the main group Santana slipped her hand into Britt's. Brittany glanced at the union and flashed Santana a knee-weakening grin. They set about searching for new outfits. Santana tried to buy Brittany an amazing blue dress that matched her eyes perfectly, but after Brittany saw the price she refused to let Santana buy it for her. Santana had pouted at her for this but smiled again after she successfully convinced Brittany to let her buy her some ice-cream before they headed back to the hotel.

About two hours and several full bags of clothing later, Santana and Brittany were resting in a small ice-cream parlour back near the hotel. Santana was having too good a time with Britt to even worry about other members of the club seeing them be affectionate towards each other. At one stage Britt managed to get ice-cream smeared up the side of her face after laughing especially hard at one of Santana's many duck related jokes. Santana cupped one of the blonde's slightly flushed cheeks and leant over to try her best to kiss the ice-cream away.

Kurt ended up forgetting all about that morning's Santana related drama and focussed more on spending time with his boyfriend and best friends. They had met up with Mike and Puck after lunch and they were all heading back to the hotel together. Kurt was out ahead towing Blaine by the hand behind him when he abruptly stopped causing the taller boy to bump into him.

"Hey, Kurt, what are you doing?" Blaine asked in confusion, placing one warm hand on Kurt's shoulder.

"Nothing!" Kurt replied a little too quickly, "I think I may have left my phone back at that restaurant we ate at." Blaine frowned at this. Wasn't Kurt just checking his phone a second ago? He voiced this thought and Kurt shot him a desperate look. Trusting Kurt to explain later Blaine helped him to convince the others to go back and rescue Kurt's phone with them.

Little did the majority of the group know, but the little ice-cream place that Santana and Brittany were eating at had been just across the street from where Kurt and the others had been. Kurt, upon seeing Santana lean across the small table and start to plant tiny little kisses on Brittany's cheek, had stopped and in order to maintain their secret, distracted the group. How did it go from one minute being teased by Santana about being gay, to another, where he was hiding the fact that apparently _she _was also driving on the other side? This was ridiculous. He would have to confront Satan on the matter and tell her that he would not go out of his way to protect her secret, and he would not lie to Blaine or the rest of the New Directions if he was asked about her and Brittany's relationship, whatever _that_ was.

Britt and Santana were sitting beside each other on the couch when Kurt's group got back to their room. Santana swiftly removed her hand from where it had been gently playing a strand of Brittany's silky hair. Britt shot her an adorable pout and the brunette replied with an apologetic smile. Brittany immediately joined in with the group's conversation, always ready to chime in with her ever happy voice and sometimes incomprehensible opinions. Santana watched on silently, she didn't feel left out though. Watching the way Britt's eyes lit up when she heard something she found something exciting or the way her eyebrows would draw down together and her mouth would scrunch up when she was confused could keep Santana occupied all day. Her staring was interrupted by Quinn and Sam returning, Quinn had one hand full of the handles of various bags that no doubt contained clothing, and the other firmly settled in one of Sam's big hands. Santana made her way over to the couple to see what manner of goodies Quinn had managed to find on her outing.

A while later, Mr Schue was stressing his little gelled head over their upcoming performance. Santana was calmly filing her nails and making sure she looked picture perfect. Schue was making last minute preparations with Rachel when Brittany walked into the room. Santana's was breath was momentarily stolen. All of the girls were wearing the same outfit as they usually would during a performance, but the powder blue fabric that matched Brittany's eyes so well, made the gorgeous blonde look absolutely radiant. Santana found herself looking around to see if any of the others had noticed the entrance of this goddess. The hem of Britt's dress swirled and fluttered as she skipped over to wear Santana was leaning against one of the kitchen counters.

"Wow, Britt you look amazing." Santana told her softly, trying to quash the enormous grin that was trying to surface on her face.

"I know," Brittany said, most probably joking, "But you look better." Now Santana _knew_ the blonde was joking. No-one could look better than Britt right now and Santana said as much. Brittany blushed and shifted so she was standing beside Santana with her pinkie outstretched invitingly. Santana linked their pinkies and flashed Brittany one of her best smiles.

The performance was amazing. That was the only word Blaine could use to describe it. He hadn't gotten a solo but he found that it didn't really bother him that much. He was with Kurt and an incredible group of people and performers, having the time of his life. Who cares if he didn't get to sing alone when he got to sing in harmony with, what he thought to be, some of the best voices in the world. But those that did get solos were terrific, namely Rachel, as usual, Finn, Mercedes and surprisingly Santana. Kurt had told him about what he suspected about her and Brittany and now Blaine couldn't stop watching them for any indication of intimacy. And lo and behold, as soon as they were announced the winners of the competition Santana had run straight to Brittany and into her strong dancer arms. The two spun and jumped with joy, squealing like little girls. But then again everyone else in New Directions was doing the same. It was something about the way the girls held each other though. It was like they had been doing it forever. There was nothing awkward about their embrace; they just seemed to fit together, much like he thought he fit with Kurt. It wasn't until they pulled apart that he really knew though. It wasn't until he saw the way they looked into each other's eyes that he really knew that those girls were in love with each other. It was a beautiful sight to behold.

After the performance the club headed back to the hotel to spend one more night before heading back to Lima in the morning. The venue that Regionals had been held at was easily within driving range of their home-town but Mr Schue thought that it would be good to go and stay somewhere to bond or whatever. Santana would have preferred to have been able to go home and curl up beside Brittany without the watchful eyes of the rest of Glee club but she had found the experience more or less fun. More because she got to go shopping with her favourite person and less because she was now paranoid about what Kurt did or didn't think about them.

Nevertheless after finally returning to Lima and getting home, after she had had a shower and unpacked, Santana texted Brittany to see if she wanted to come over. She then tossed her phone on her bed and began to brush her hair in front of the vanity. Brittany's replied within minutes as she was never too far away from her phone.

_Awesome! Ill b there in 10! xoxoxo – B_

Britt always signed her texts with hugs and kisses but Santana knew that she got way more than anyone else. Even when Britt had been dating Stubbles she got more love than him. Sort of. Oh well, she hated thinking about the cripple and his hands all over her woman. She shuddered at the thought of him touching the most important part of her life.

As usual Santana's parents weren't home but Santana didn't really care. Her parents never being home meant that she had more freedom and when Brittany came over they could have sweet lady kisses without the fear of getting caught. She really couldn't be bothered explaining the whole 'Lebanese' issue to her parents.

Santana forced herself to walk slowly, not wanting to seem to eager even though she really wanted to run to the door, fling it open and scream her love for Brittany at the top of her lungs. Doing things like that in Lima meant an immediate slushie facial. Thanks, but no thanks. She slowly pulled the door open and smirked at Brittany. _Her _Brittany. Britt was wearing one of those adorable animal beanies she loved so much, and Santana almost giggled. So much for Head Bitch in Charge.

"You look impossibly cute today BrittBritt," Santana told her, "So you should probably get in here before I kiss you on the porch and the neighbours start to talk."

Brittany grinned and pushed her way past Santana into the house. As soon as Santana had shut the door she was assaulting by a bone crushing Brittany hug. When she pulled away, Santana looked Brittany in the eye and leant forward to kiss her. She was confused when Brittany leaned back. She tried to kiss her girlfriend again but once again only got air. She frowned at the blonde. Brittany giggled and placed a chaste kiss on Santana's lips before spinning and skipping into the lounge room.

Santana laughed softly at Brittany's antics and followed her. When she got to the lounge room she took a seat on the couch to watch Brittany put in a movie. She was assuming it was something Disney. That was Britt's favourite after all. She loved the singing and had once told San that once they joined Glee club their lives had kind of become like a Disney movie, randomly breaking out into song as they so often did.

After Britt was satisfied that the movie was ready to play she stood up and sat beside Santana and entwined their legs. She then rested her head on Santana's shoulder to watch the movie. It was the Lion King. Santana really enjoyed this one, even though it was kind of depressing when Mufasa died. When it got to that point Britt turned her head and buried it in Santana's neck. The brunette had once asked why she watched it when it made her so sad. Brittany chose that moment to say the most profound thing:

"_I watch it because Simba reminds me of you. You ran away from me when you thought you were wrong and I was really sad. Then you realized that you weren't wrong, came back and everything was good again." Brittany smiled. _

_It hurt Santana to think that she had caused Brittany pain. Instead of saying this though, in true Santana style she said; "And you like Timone and Pumba."_

_Britt laughed and agreed._

Santana ran her hand across Brittany's hair, mesmerized at its soft feel. Eventually when Santana signalled that it was safe to continue watching, Britt removed her face from Santana's neck and sat back to look her in the eyes. They smiled at each other and Brittany leaned in to kiss Santana softly on the lips. Santana's hand came up to cup the blonde's cheek and guide her back to her lips when Britt began to pull away. She felt Britt's smile on her lips. Needless to say Santana and Brittany had an immensely good day after that, talking, cuddling and having sweet lady kisses. They both wished that everyday could be like this. Even the thought that Kurt might be onto them didn't dampen Santana's spirits that day. She was with Brittany and nothing could bring her down.


	2. Chapter 2

Santana strutted down the hall toward her locker. It was easy to navigate the crowded hallways, as no-one dared get in her way. The only people with balls enough to stand up to her were girls from glee club and Santana was sure that they were all locked in a classroom doing something nerdy. Brittany was already fiddling with her locker when Santana got there. She had her tongue out and was apparently trying to figure out her locker combination.

"Forgot again, Britt-Britt?" Santana asked softly. Brittany frowned and turned to her with a pout. Santana chuckled and reached over to unlock it for the blonde before turning to do the same for her own locker. She pulled out the things she would need for the next class and leant against it waiting for Brittany. They had maths together. In all honesty, they wouldn't really need their books. They never paid attention in class anyway. It was all too confusing for Britt and Santana was always too distracted by the beautiful girl next to her to write down any notes. She would just ask Quinn for hers later.

While Brittany was removing her yellow, duck pencil case, something caught Santana's eye. Kurt. She immediately frowned. She had forgotten all about him. She quickly told Brittany to save a seat for her in maths and without waiting for a reply she set out after Kurt. Brittany was left a little confused. She had also forgotten where their class was.

Kurt had arrived late to school so the hallways were more or less bare when he was standing in front of his locker. He heard the distinct clicking of high-heels heading his way and turned to see Santana standing before him with one hand on her hip and her eyebrows raised.

"What can I help you with, Satan?" He asked, in an effort to not be cowed.

"I want you to stay out of my business. Whatever you think you saw between me and Britts the other morning didn't happen, okay? We're friends. From time to time best friends snuggle, okay? Are you trying to tell me that you and Wheezy have never spooned after a long night of manicuring and talking about boys, or whatever? I didn't think so." Santana said all of this in a rush that Kurt only barely made out.

Kurt looked around before grabbing Santana's wrist and pulling her to the Auditorium which was, conveniently, right beside Kurt's locker.

"Okay, don't try to tell me you two aren't involved," he said as Santana's eyes widened, "I saw you at the ice-cream place near the hotel we stayed at. That didn't look like 'just friends' to me Santana."

Santana was lost for words. There were only a few people outside of her and Brittany that knew about them. About _her._ This wasn't something she was prepared to handle. Thoughts were rushing through her head at 100 miles per hour. Was he going to black mail her? Who had he told? How could she stop him from telling other people? Her breathing was speeding up and she felt tears of panic prick in her eyes. She could hide her fear from him before, but not now. Not now that he actually _knew_ what she was.

"Santana?" Kurt was looking into her eyes. There was deep concern in his voice. This shocked her out of the state of utter panic she had worked her way into. He actually cared? This guy that she had been so mean to for as long as she had known him was being nice to her?

"Hey, it's okay," Kurt whispered as he took the brunette into his arms.

Santana was too shocked to pull away. She had been bottling up all of the feelings she had been having about the whole 'gay' situation. She hadn't wanted to talk to Britt about it because she didn't want to burden the blonde. Kurt was stroking the back of Santana's hair in a way that she would have never let anyone do before. Except Brittany of course. It was ridiculously comforting. He pulled back after a minute and looked into the Latina's brown moist eyes.

"Santana… are you a lesbian?" He asked softly.

She broke. That is the only word that could be used for what happened. Huge racking sobs tore from her mouth and she dropped to the floor. Her hands were over her mouth as the tears that had been threatening to spill, did so. Kurt dropped to his knees too and pulled her into another hug. He had meant to confront her about this and say things like: 'all those times you called me horrible things because I'm gay and here you are chilling in the closet with your best friend.' But seeing her reaction to him basically saying that he knew she was bi or lesbian or whatever had stopped him. How long had she kept this inside? If she reacted like this to one person knowing then the poor girl must have been in a world of pain. It was odd to Kurt thinking of Santana as a 'poor girl' considering all of the things she had done to him. Her being gay sort of explained why she had been dating Karofsky. No taste in men. They were probably being each other's beards.

"Kurt. I don't k-know what to do! I want t-to be with her so bad! I want to t-tell e-everyone about us but I can't! They'll do to me what they did to you! What _we _d-did to you!" She moaned into his chest. Kurt couldn't think of anything to say. He just knelt there rubbing her back and telling her that she'll be okay.

After Santana's sobs had gradually died down, Kurt pulled back to look her in the face. She looked absolutely terrible. She had two black lines running down her face from where her tears had caused her makeup to smear. Her eyes were puffy and red and Kurt had never seen a look of such utter defeat.

He tried to wipe off what little mascara he could with his jacket sleeve. Santana offered a watery smile at his attempt. She didn't deserve his kindness. She had only ever been a bitch to him.

"Seriously, it's ridiculous for you to think that anyone would mess with the Queen Bitch of McKinley. But if it's any consolation, I promise I won't tell anyone…" He thought for a second before adding a guilty "else." Her eyes shot to his, once more filled with panic.

"Who?" She croaked.

"Blaine, he knows not to tell anyone though. We've both been through what you're going through right now and trust me. Pushing people out of the closet is not something we're into."

Santana took a few relieved breaths and smiled at him. It was slightly startling. Never had Kurt seen a genuine, not evil, smile directed at him by Santana. And he had to say that she had the most gorgeous smile when she wasn't terrorizing people. Bravo.

"Thanks Kurt." She mumbled, looking ashamed, "I didn't mean to get makeup all over your jacket."

Kurt laughed and after a second Santana joined him.

"How 'bout we get you cleaned up before the end of first period?" He suggested.

"Yeah, don't want people to think their Head Bitch is a weak-ass." She grinned back.

Brittany only caught little glimpses of Santana in the halls after she didn't show up for maths in first period. She desperately wanted to see if the brunette was okay. She didn't see the Latina until the end of school when she saw her leaning against her car talking to Kurt. They seemed to be being civil towards each other which made Britt smile. It always made her happy to see Santana being nice. She really loved it when other people got the chance to see the lovely person Santana really was under her bitchy façade. Brittany walked over to them slowly, liking the way the sun glinted off San's glossy black hair from this distance.

When she got close enough for the pair to notice her, Santana offered her a broad smile. Brittany would never find anything that was as beautiful as that smile.

"Hi there." She said giving Santana the smallest of hugs. She was aware of how much San wanted to keep their relationship a secret. Kurt smiled at her.

"I have to get going. I'm meeting Blaine for coffee. You two girls have fun," he said with a wink. Brittany quickly looked at Santana and was shocked to see her smile still in place. She usually freaked out when someone said something that would even hint at them being together. She was paranoid like that. Maybe she didn't notice Kurt's wink.

Santana tilted her head and bit her lip as she took in Brittany's perfect form staring after Kurt's retreating back.

"My place for some Little Mermaid, Britt-Britt?" She asked with an adoring smile playing at her lips.

That got Brittany's attention. After a few moments of squealing and jumping Britt rushed around to the passenger's side of San's car and jumped in. She was keen for some Disney brilliance.


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow. I actually got reviews for this story :3 that's pretty boss. I originally wrote this just because I was bored and I love me some Brittana, hahaha I was reading a lot of fan fiction and just decided that while I was here I might as well upload this story. Well anyways, thanks guys it's really cool that you took the time to comment, it's always welcome. :D**

Brittany was lying on her stomach staring down at the English homework she had been given that day. Her brow was furrowed in confusion. Find the alliteration? What's an alliteration? She finally settled on calling Santana and asking her to help. San was always doing nice things like that for her. Unlike Artie, San didn't just do the work for her; she would patiently explain what things meant and gradually show Brittany how to solve the problem.

Now that Britt thought about it a lot of things were better with Santana. They could do each other's nails and hair, and San was so much softer than any boy. She was so gentle and Britt loved that about her. Santana might seem like an ice-queen bitch but she always treated the blonde with affection and caring. What was even better was that Santana never treated Brittany like she was dumb.

After realizing that she had gotten distracted by thoughts of beautiful Latinas Britt remembered to call said Latina. After a few rings Santana picked up her home-phone.

"Hello, you have reached the Lopez residence; may I ask who's speaking?" Santana sounded slightly grumpy but Brittany giggled at her business-like greeting. "Britt?"

"Yup, watcha doin'?" Brittany replied happily.

"Ugh, just had an argument with the 'rents. What are you doing?" Santana asked.

"Is everything alright? And just trying to do the homework Mr Blue set us." Britt said sadly.

"It's Mr Green, Britt. And yeah everything's okay, just the same old shit."

"You wanna come over and help me out with my English?" Brittany asked hopefully, knowing that if San came over she would forget about her argument with her parents and be all happy again.

"I thought you'd never ask. I'll be there soon." Santana replied.

"Okay, love you." Britt said, and she heard San laugh softly on the other end of the phone.

"I love you too, Britt-Britt. See you in a minute." Santana said before hanging up and getting ready to go over to Britt's.

When Santana knocked on Brittany's door it was answered almost immediately by her ceaselessly happy younger sister.

"Santana!" She squealed before launching herself at Santana's legs for a hug. She then grabbed Santana's hand and dragged her inside. "Brittany's upstairs in her room. Do you want to see a drawing I did at school today?" The young girl chirped quickly.

Santana smiled at the girl and told her that she would love to see her picture, but maybe after she went and said hello to Brittany. The girl agreed and skipped into the lounge-room. The Latina chuckled and shook her head as she made her way to the stairs leading up to the second floor and Britt's bedroom. She said a quick hello to Britt's mom who was busily working in the kitchen, like she was most times Santana came over. She thought it would be weird to have parents home to actually do things in the house. Sometimes she thought she was the only one living at her place.

Brittany's bedroom door was painted bright pink and had stars at the corners. San knocked quietly before entering. Brittany was sprawled across her bed staring intently at some papers in front of her. She had the most gorgeous frown on her face. Santana watched her for a second, taking in every little thing about the blonde, before she made her way over to sit next to Britt on the bed.

"Hey, pretty girl." She said, tucking a strand of golden hair behind one of Britt's ears.

"Hi, San." Brittany replied with a grin. She pushed herself up into a sitting position so she could give Santana a hug. After she leant back on her heels Britt took the brunette's chin in her hand tilted her head up so their eyes met. "Are you okay?" She asked softly.

Santana leant forward and quickly kissed the tip of Britt's nose. "Always." She replied.

"What did you guys fight about?" Brittany asked, concerned for her best friend.

Santana rolled her eyes. "You know, just the same stuff we always do. 'Santana you aren't doing well enough in school. How are you going to get into a good college if you can't even do well in high school?' Oh God, and the; 'Santana why haven't you found a nice boy?'" She mocked with a frustrated look on her pretty face. "Like they're even there enough to care."

"I'm sure they do care, San," Brittany offered a dazzling smile, "how could anyone not care about you? You're kind of awesome." She frowned then. "And aren't you doing well in all of your subjects?"

Santana's smile at Britt's sweet words fell at her concluding question. "Yeah I am," she replied, "they're getting my grades confused with my behaviour. Stupid Figgins. They know nothing about me Britt-Britt. They stopped being parents to me a long time ago." She laughed bitterly before adding, "They didn't even notice my new boobs."

Brittany winced at that. She never knew why Santana had gotten the boob job. Quinn had once said she thought it was because San didn't like herself. But that couldn't be right, could it? How could she not like Santana? Santana is totally awesome! Not to mention super pretty. Besides, Brittany had liked San's boobs before the surgery, not that she thought they weren't nice now. Because they were really great just like the rest of Santa—

"Britt? Where'd you go?" Santana asked softly trying to catch Brittany's gaze which had wondered off to the far corner of the room. "What's going through that head of yours?"

"I was just thinking about your boobs," the blonde replied dreamily. Santana blinked at her a couple times before smiling saucily.

"Oh really?" She leant forward to capture Brittany's lips in her own.

After they got their sweet lady kisses on for a while, Brittany's mom interrupted them for dinner. She assumed that Santana would be staying the night and was right. The girls often had sleep overs to do homework and gossip and all the other things teenage girls liked to do. Not that Brittany's mom was stupid. She knew there was something going on between her daughter and the well-mannered Latina girl. She always noticed the red cheeks when they would come downstairs from Brittany's room or the way the girls would look at each other when the other wasn't looking. She wondered if it was just teenage experimentation or if the girls were actually in a relationship. She wouldn't care either way. Less chance of teenage pregnancy in her eyes. Besides she thought it was better for her daughter to be with someone that she had known for most of her life. It was plain to see that Santana was good for Brittany. The blonde's smiles were always that much brighter after seeing Santana and her face would always light up when she talked about her – which she did a lot.

Once they had finished dinner and had helped Britt's mom do the dishes Santana and Brittany made their way upstairs again, this time to actually do homework. The brunette explained to the blonde that alliteration was the repetition of a particular letter or sound at the beginning of words that are close together. This was confusing to Britt at first but after showing her examples and helping her find alliteration used in a poem, Santana was able to help her understand. Brittany gave Santana a grateful smile and a soft kiss on the cheek as a thank you for helping her.

It would never cease to amaze her that someone so smart would want to be with someone as stupid as her. She had told Santana this once only to be scolded.

"Don't say stuff like that Brittany. You aren't stupid, and if anyone ever says you are, you tell me and I will go all Lima Heights on their asses, okay? You just see things different to other people and that's totally a good thing. I like the way you view the world. It just makes me love you more." She had said in a gentle but commanding tone.

Britt giggled at the memory.

"What's so funny?" Santana asked.

Brittany informed her of to where her thoughts had strayed. That began a conversation about past times that continued until late in the evening when Britt's mom had to come into the room and tell them they had to quieten down a bit because their laughter was keeping up Britt's sister. Santana and Brittany fell asleep soon after, wrapped in each other's arms.


	4. Chapter 4

**I know it might be weird considering how mean Karofsky was to Kurt, but I actually like the guy. I think they're going to develop his character a bit more in the new season. Him and Santana go well together, I mean they're dealing with the same issue. So here's a Karofsky/Santana friendship bonding fic… of doom? Enjoyyyy and as usual thank you for the lovely reviews 3**

Although, to an outside observer, it would seem that Santana was watching the heart-felt ballad that Rachel was currently belting out in front of the group, she was really zoned out and just happened to be looking in Rachel's general direction. She was thinking about silly things like giant robot ducks that could shoot bee-shaped cookies out of their mouths. Don't ask. She would occasionally smile at the light brush of Brittany's elbow against her own, but other than that she was mostly out of it.

When Rachel finished her performance there was a round of applause, to which she curtsied, before she sat down. Mr Schue took his place in front of the Glee club and started prattling on about that week's task. He ended up writing something on the board that Santana didn't remotely care about. It wasn't until she was outside and headed toward her car that she actually started paying attention to things again. Yeah, sure, she liked Glee club (mostly because of a certain blonde member) but sometimes the repetitive Rachel solos drove her mad. She wasn't exactly jealous of the fact that Rachel always got the main roles in the club's performances, because she _was _the captain after all. It was more that the girl thought that she was better than everyone else. Had she even heard Mercedes sing? That girl has some skills. So, in a lazy kind of protest against the perpetual annoyance that was Rachel Berry, Santana chose to not pay attention to anything the dwarf did.

She felt a pinkie finger curl around her own and looked to her left to give Brittany a smile. The blonde grinned back. Santana watched her look back up to see where she was walking. Accidents had resulted from those lingering looks. Things like walking into freshmen or, more importantly, trash cans. Santana didn't really mind though. Even being sent sprawling was worth it if she got to look into Britt's baby blues. That didn't mean she didn't get pissed off when someone walked into her. She mostly got angry because it interrupted her staring but also because she was head bitch of this school. She had a reputation to keep up and that meant rolling anyone that dared get in her way.

It just so happened that today was one of those days. She felt a hard shoulder smash into her chest. She was hit so hard that she spun. She grunted and stared up at the moron that had rammed her.

"Sorry," Karofsky said, and he sounded like he meant it. There were tear stains running down the boy's face and he had a red mark around his eye that would surely turn into a bruise. He kept walking after that. The halls were bare as the Glee club met after school hours and Karofsky wasn't headed out to the car park. Santana saw him turn into one of the boy's bathrooms.

"Britt, can you meet me outside?" Santana gave her the keys so she could wait in the car and followed Karofsky into the boy's toilets. Brittany was once again left confused as Santana chased after the big footballer. Why did she just go into the boy's bathrooms? Gross.

Santana pushed open the swinging door to the boy's toilets and was immediately assaulted by a gust of foul air. She almost gagged at the stench clogging her nose. Resisting the urge to simple walk back out of the bathroom and go find Britt, she forged on through the smell to find Karofsky. She didn't even know why. Why should she want to help him? It's not like they're friends. They only dated so people would think they were straight and so Santana could win her rightful place as prom queen. She didn't owe the guy any favours especially after what he did to Kurt. But still, someone had obviously hit him and he was upset. Gays of a feather must stick together or some crap like that. Santana stopped analysing her actions and decided to just help him.

"Karofsky?" She called, as she checked to make sure they were alone in the bathroom. Only one stall was closed so she assumed that was the one he was in. "Hey, gay-boy, you all good?" Okay, so it was a low blow. It was the only way she could think of to get him to reply.

"Leave me alone, Satan. I'm trying to take a leak." He replied. His voice was soft and weak.

"Out of your eyes? Tell me who hit you. Come out here and talk to me like a real man, Karofsky." She called through the door. At that he burst out of the door with a mix of rage and pain masking his big face. Fresh tears were cascading down his cheeks.

"I am a real man! I don't care what you or he says. I'm a real man so you can go screw yourself, Satan!" He seethed at her.

"Me or who, David?" Santana asked more softly. "Who did that to you?" She gestured to his eye.

Karofsky's lower lip trembled as he fought for control of his emotions.

"No-one." He finally said. "I walked into a door," and with that he pushed past her and left the bathroom. Santana stared after him.

Britt could tell that San was distracted. She barely spoke a single word the whole way home and that was unusual for Santana. She usually asked Brittany how her day was or if she needed any help on her assignments, but today there was only silence. Once they got back to Santana's place Brittany ventured to ask San what was wrong. The Latina looked at her quietly for a moment before sighing and flopping back on her bed.

"I'm worried about David." She mumbled.

"David?"

"You know… Karofsky?" Santana tried to explain.

Britt frowned, "oh. Why are you worried about him? He was so mean to Kurt."

Santana was torn between explaining why Karofsky bullied Kurt so and keeping the big boy's secret. She eventually decided that after everything, Britt knew how to keep a secret. So she told the blonde about how David took his frustration about being gay out on Kurt. Choosing that moment to be insightful, Brittany said, "But you weren't that mean when you were all frustrated and stuff."

"I wasn't _that _mean but I still was and am a bitch," Santana told her, not sure why she was even worried about Karofsky, let alone defending him. "Besides, he didn't have you to make everything better did he?"

Brittany smiled at that and kissed San's cheek. "I like making you happy, S. I'm happy when you're happy." The blonde snuggled into the Latina's neck.

"That's good, Britt-Britt, because you are so good at making me happy." Santana replied softly, kissing the top of Brittany's head.

"So, why are you worried about Karofsky?" Britt asked after a moment. "Did you find out why he was crying this afternoon?"

Santana sighed. "No, he wouldn't tell me what happened, or who hit him. Maybe he did something stupid like telling his parents that he's gay."

"Why would that be stupid?" Britt asked, pulling away to look at Santana.

"Because not everyone has amazing parents like you Britt. I think someone hit him. My money's on a dad that's angry at his son for liking boys."

"What are we going to do?" Britt asked as she leant head back on the brunette's shoulder.

Santana smiled softly at the 'we' before replying. "I don't know, B. Let's not mention this to anyone before I have a chance to get some answers from Dave. I don't wanna tell someone that his parents are hitting him if I'm not absolutely sure it's happening. But if it is I think we should tell Mr Schue or Coach Beiste. Karofsky can be a douche sometimes but it's not cool to hit your kid."

"You're so smart, San. And sweet. And pretty." Brittany mumbled quietly.

Santana laughed at the blonde girl. "Thank you, Britt." The Latina felt Brittany's breathing slow as she fell asleep against her. "I love you Britt-Britt," she whispered in the blonde's ear, planting a gentle kiss on her forehead.

Before Brittany, Santana didn't think that she would ever be able to love someone as much as she did the blonde. It was still a mystery to the Latina how it was that she could be fascinated by so simple a thing as someone else breathing beside her and mumbling softly about storks in their sleep. Brittany was so incredible. It was like every single thing about her screamed, 'Love Me!', and Santana was powerless to resist. Even in the odd sitting position she was in, the brunette was able to fall asleep with the aid of beautiful Brittany leaning against her. Her dreams were filled with ducks, gay sharks and most importantly, beautiful blonde dancers. Good dreams they were.


	5. Chapter 5

After careful thought and much one-sided discussion with Brittany, Santana decided to talk to the only other people that knew Karofsky's secret that she was aware of. Now she was sitting in the Lima Bean with Brittany, Kurt and Blaine talking about what they could possibly do to help David.

"Well we don't exactly _know _that he's getting hit. Maybe it happened like he said. Maybe he got hit in the face by a door handle and stayed back after school so people wouldn't laugh at him for crying." Sure it sounded reasonable coming from Blaine but he was forgetting one thing;

"Have you seen the size of Karofsky? That would have to be one freaking massive door," Santana snapped. Blaine flinched at her snarky tone.

"Yeah, I know, but my point remains. We aren't sure of whether or not he's being abused. There are so many other ways he could've gotten that bruise. I'm just saying that we have to be sure before we take action."

They all quickly agreed to this, not wanting to accuse Karofsky's parents of hitting him when they had absolutely no proof of that occurring. Santana said that she could talk to him. Ask him what was going on. The others agreed to this and were now working on a plan of what to do if he didn't answer her, which was mostly likely going to happen. They had decided that they had to do something but that it couldn't be going to an authority figure.

Kurt had said that it would be best for her to do it because of their not so friendly past. He wasn't exactly keen to help the boy that had made his life a living hell but he couldn't stand by and let him get smacked around. He sighed at the slow movement of their planning and stood to get him and Blaine some more coffee. If they insisted on figuring this out in one sitting, it was going to be a hell of a long day.

Santana, upon seeing Kurt make a move to go and get coffee refills, stood up and offered to buy this round. She owed these guys for helping her out with the Dave issue. On her way past Brittany she let her hand gently brush the blonde's shoulder and gave her a small smile. Brittany beamed back.

Kurt watched the couple-like interaction when Santana got up to get coffee. He smiled at their cuteness and just had to comment on it as soon as the Latina was out of ear-shot.

"You guys are so adorable together, Britt-Britt. It seems as though Satan has finally found someone to melt her frozen heart," he cooed. Blaine laughed and Brittany frowned.

"You shouldn't call San names, you know, she's actually trying to be a lot nicer now," she pouted.

"Aww, Britt, I was only joking. I really do think you guys make a great couple," he said while Blaine was fervently nodding his head at Kurt's side. Brittany shot a glance up toward where Santana was waiting impatiently in the queue.

"That's just it," she murmured sadly, staring at her entwined hands on the table, "I don't know if we _are _a couple." Her eyes moved back up to Kurt's. "We do all the things that me and Artie used to do when we're alone, but we can't even hold hands in public."

"Well, has she ever called you her girlfriend?" Blaine asked softly.

Brittany shook her head. "Should she have?"

Blaine and Kurt were both silent which worried the blonde. Santana chose that moment to return carrying their coffees on a serving tray. She was too busy bitching about poor service to notice the tense mood in the air. She handed the out coffee, and hot chocolate for Britt, and took her seat next to the blonde. She leant her head gently on Britt's arm and groaned.

"God, it's hard enough dealing with my own gay issues, let alone Karofsky's," she moaned.

"Hey, Santana, Blaine and I are going to head off, we're really not making any progress here. I suggest you just talk to him and see what happens," Kurt said goodbye as he pulled a confused Blaine up beside him. Kurt gave Brittany an encouraging look that didn't go unnoticed by Santana before pulling Blaine outside.

"What was that all about?" The Latina asked Brittany.

"San am I your girlfriend?" The blonde girl asked abruptly. Britt was obviously not one for bluntness. Santana found herself looking around to make sure no-one heard the random question. She instantly felt guilty for doing it and not just because of the sad look she found in her love's gorgeous blue eyes. She felt like she was using Brittany when she tried to keep their relationship a secret like that. Another thought hit her then. Did Brittany even want to be her girlfriend? Was that why she was asking this out of no-where?

"Where did that come from?" She asked, shocked.

"I was talking to Kurt and Blaine and Kurt said that we made a cute couple. I told him that I didn't even know if we _were _a couple. A real one I mean. Is it still just the same as it was when we were together when I was with Artie? Or is it something more now?" Brittany asked the brunette quietly, staring at her lap.

"Britty," the Latina said taking Brittany's hand, not caring now who saw them. Her girl came first. "Of course it's more. I love you. And you most definitely _are _my girlfriend… I mean only if you want to be." She finished her statement quietly. Hopefully.

"Of course I want to be San, I love you too." Brittany gave a little smile. Santana had been sure that she had called Brittany her girlfriend before. Maybe she had only done it in her mind. God damn it she sucked at relationships. She would make it a point now to tell Britt as often as she possibly could that she loved her and that what they had together was real.

They finished their coffees in silence and neither of them let go of the other's hand the entire time. When it was time to leave, Santana refused to let Brittany leave the tip and they both headed off to San's car. She would talk to Dave tomorrow and try to find out what the hell was going on with him. Tonight, though, she was going to cuddle with the girl she loved and show her how much she meant to her.

The Latina's chance to talk to Karofsky the next day came after he finished football training. He was all gross and sweaty when he saw her standing alone beside the bleachers watching him. She beckoned him over some-what ominously with one finger. He looked around and nervously and decided he better go talk to the girl.

By the time Karofsky had crossed the field to where to Latina was standing, she was leaning against one of the poles supporting the bleachers and picking at one perfectly manicured nail.

"So, you need to tell me who did that to you and why," she demanded, not looking up from her hand. The red mark around Karofsky's eye had turned into a dark blackish-purple bruise and looked incredibly painful.

"I don't need to tell you anything, _dyke._" He hissed at her softly.

"Don't try that with me, Dave. I basically invented using my bitchiness to hide my real feelings, so buck up and tell me what's going on." She had used his real name? Why did she even care?

"Why do you want to know so badly? Don't pretend you care," he said, less intently this time.

"I _do _care, Dave. I know it's hard to believe but I'm not such a bitch these days. Seriously, I never thought it would help but after talking to people about this huge thing that's going in my life I actually feel better. You aren't alone in this. I'm not going to pretend I know exactly what you're feeling because I don't. But I am going through most of the stuff you are right now and the other stuff that's happening to you, you can talk to me about. You aren't alone in this Dave. I want to help you but first you have to tell me what's wrong."

David was shocked at this. Wow, she actually cared? Someone actually cared about what was happening with him. This was a whole new thing to him and he didn't know how to handle it. Of course he had friends, like Azimio and some of the other guys on the team, but they didn't like _talk_ and especially not about his biggest secret and fear.

Dave sat down against the pole that Santana had been leaning against and put his head in his hands, letting his helmet fall beside him. He murmured something the brunette couldn't quite catch, so she crouched down beside him and asked him to repeat it.

"It was my dad," he said looking up at her with tears that weren't quite falling in his eyes. "I told my dad that I'm… you know… and he hit me. He said that I'm not a real man and that I'm not his son. No son of his will be a nancy, he said." Karofsky sobbed and let one of the tears in his eyes trickle down his cheek. "How could he say that to me, Santana? I'm his kid!" Dave was actually crying now and Santana placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Dave, is that the only time he's ever hit you?" She asked gently, not wanting to upset the boy even further.

Dave simply shook his head. Oh God, an insecure gay kid living in a broken home, it's like his life is screaming at him to commit suicide or something. Santana had thought that she had it bad. But in retrospect, she had a beautiful girlfriend, good friends and parents that probably wouldn't even care that she was gay, considering half the time they completely ignored her existence anyway.

"Dave, you can't let this keep happening. You don't deserve to get smacked around for something you can't change. I think you need to tell one of the teachers. Ms Pillsbury or Coach Beiste. You can even come stay with me for a while if you want. My parents won't even notice you're there." She rubbed his arm in an attempt to comfort him.

Karofsky looked up at her, confused. "You would really let me stay at your place?"

"Yeah," Santana replied, "we're friends, right?"

This question shocked Dave. Being friends with Santana 'The Ice Queen' Lopez was something he had never before thought about. If she continued to be this nice than yeah, he thought they might be able to get along. He told her this and she smiled a very un-Santana smile at him. It was friendly and sweet. Oh dear lord, hell must have frozen over.

"I'll think about it," he said softly, "and as for telling one of the teachers, I don't want to get them involved… yet. I want to see if he calms down. He hasn't hit me since, you know? He's just been, like, pretending I'm not there or something." Santana did know. She got the same thing from her parents.

"While you think," the brunette said as she sat down beside him, "I just want you to know that there are people that are here for you."

"Yeah," he scoffed, "like who?"

"Like me for one," she replied, "and Kurt and Blaine too."

He was startled at this. "What do you mean Kurt and Blaine? They hate me. After all the shit I did to Kurt it's understandable."

"They don't hate you. They were actually helping me think of ways we could help you."

"Wait. You told them?" He asked slightly bewildered.

"Yeah, it was the only thing I could think of to do at the time. Seriously, Dave, they want to help you as much as I do." Santana told him sincerely.

"D-did you tell anyone else?" He stuttered softly, staring at her with wide eyes.

Santana looked guilty, much like Kurt had when he told her that he had told Blaine about her and Brittany. "I told Brittany."

"What? What the hell, Santana? Oh God, she's going to tell everyone," he moaned as he buried his head in his massive arms.

"Relax," Santana said with a roll of her eyes, "I've been sleeping with Brittany for years, she can keep a secret."

Dave's head shot up and he stared at her in shock. Okay, considering this was the first he had heard of Santana sleeping with Brittany, he could safely assume she was pretty good at keeping secrets.

"Damn," he whispered, "are you two together?"

Santana grinned. "Yup. Have been basically since prom when you and me 'broke up'."

Dave laughed at that, scrubbing away dried tears. "Worst fake relationship ever."

Santana groaned, "I know! I seriously need to teach you how to dance, boy!"

They both laughed at that and continued to talk about how crappy their fake relationship was. It was getting dark when they said goodbye to each other. Santana was shocked when Dave gave her a quick hug and whispered 'thank you' in her ear before turning and heading to the boy's locker room.

**So, yeah this was kind of a long one. Sorry if it kind of sucked guys, was a bit preoccupied :S sorry if it was a bit angsty. I really tried to get across Karofsky's more human side in this chapter, 'cos I really want to set him and Santana up to be actual friends further on. Thanks for reading.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you for the reviews guys :3 Seeing as I'm on holidays for two weeks you can expect longer chapters that will, hopefully, be posted at more frequent intervals. Season 3 in 5 days over here in Australia, so keen. :D anyways, enjoyyyyy 3**

Like everyone else in the Glee club that afternoon, Santana was shocked when none other than David Karofsky knocked gently at the choir room door.

"What do you need, Dave?" Mr Schue asked politely.

Dave took a step into the room and stood there nervously playing with his hands and staring at the floor. "I, um, was wondering if I could sit in on the meeting today. If that's okay with Kurt and everyone else," he mumbled just loud enough for the club to hear.

Most of the club grumbled in complaint to the exclusion of Santana, Brittany, Kurt and Blaine.

"I think we should let him stay," Kurt said which caused not a few heads to turn and stare at him in shock.

"Come sit over here, Dave," Santana called, pointing to the seat between her and Blaine. Karofsky looked over to Mr Schue for permission who, still confused, nodded at him. The big boy made his way over to Santana and sat down. Blaine offered him a polite smile and Kurt leaned around his boyfriend to say hi. Needless to say, everyone else in the New Directions was incredibly confused at the civility with which they were treating Dave. It had taken them a couple days to get used Santana being nice to Kurt and Blaine now they were seeing Karofsky's main victim acting friendly toward the big football player. What in hell was going on?

Karofsky gave Santana and Brittany a big smile. Brittany, who wasn't sure whether or not to trust Dave, offered a small non-committal smile on return. Santana saw this and linked her pinkie with her girlfriend to reassure her. Mr Schue started off the meeting by asking anyone if they had anything prepared to present to the club. Kurt enthusiastically raised his hand and skipped to centre stage before Berry had a chance to hoard the spot light. Santana smirked at the crest fallen look on Rachel's face at not being able to perform first. Blaine followed his boyfriend to the front of the room and stood next to him.

As per usual the duo performed amazingly. Kurt's high voice matched so well with Blaine's lower one. David was on his feet applauding the pair when they were done. The song was really catchy and he had found himself singing along with the rest of the Glee club. Santana saw that the big boy was enjoying himself and made a note to herself to talk to him later about joining the club. Once Kurt and Blaine had retaken their seats, Dave stood and told them quietly that he had to go to football practice, Santana saw other boys in the club standing up ready to go too. The Latina stood up and said goodbye. She was less shocked when Dave gave her a quick hug this time.

"Um, I was wondering if you guys wanted to some over to my place tonight," he said to the four people in the club that didn't seem to want his head on a pike. "My parents aren't home and I was thinking that we could get pizza and watch some movies or something." Karofsky spoke low and looked a bit nervous.

"Yeah, I'm totally in. What time you want to meet up?" Santana asked him. He looked surprised that she had said yes and smiled at her, pleased.

"I could text you the time and place if you want," he said.

"Sounds awesome," she replied with a gentle smile, "you guys in?" She directed her question to the other three.

Kurt and Blaine agreed and told her to forward them the text so they know where to go. Brittany shrugged and told San that she would go where the brunette went.

"Cool," Karofsky said with a grateful grin on his face, "I'll see you guys tonight then."

They said their goodbyes and Karofsky left in the wake of the other football playing Glee club guys. As soon as the boys were out of the room, Berry turned on Santana.

"What the hell was he doing here? I know you two have a thing but that doesn't mean you can bring a bully like him in here!" The little diva hissed.

"Shut your face, dwarf," Santana replied coldly, ignoring the light scolding she got from Mr Schue who now only went through the motions to get her to stop insulting Rachel. "You honestly have no idea what you're talking about."

"Then explain it to me," Rachel replied in an equally as cold voice.

"Well first off, I didn't tell Karofsky to come here. Secondly we don't have a 'thing', we're friends. Third; yeah, he was a bully, but he's different now. You don't know him or what's going on with him so don't try to judge him." Santana's voice was steadily getting louder as she defended her new found friend.

"Girls, that's enough," Mr Schue said as he came to stand in between them. He knew Santana had a massive temper and he didn't want the kids to start an all-out brawl in here.

"Rachel," Kurt said. He wasn't yelling but the whole room fell silent at his voice. He was, after-all, the one that had been basically tortured at Karofsky's hands. "I know you guys are just trying to watch out for me and I want to thank you all for that. But Dave isn't like he used to be;" Kurt hoped that what he was saying was true, "he's changed and is now a better person. I think we all need to give him a second chance. Everyone makes mistakes."

"Yeah," Rachel replied more quietly this time, trying to understand, "but everyone doesn't threaten to kill you, Kurt. You can seriously forgive him for that? You can be his friend after he screwed with you so much you had to leave the school?" The rest of the group were nodding and agreeing with her as she spoke.

"Yes. I can. And I want you all to at least give him one last chance to prove that he isn't a bad person… for me?" Kurt said this with the most pitiful look of pleading in his eyes. Damn that boy could act. He would be so good as a straight guy because his puppy dog eyes were winning over every girl in the Glee club at that moment. Rachel begrudgingly agreed not to keel-haul Karofsky as long as he didn't do or say anything that could be remotely construed as homophobic.

While Kurt had been talking with man-hands, Brittany had taken a hold of one of Santana's perfectly feminine hands and pulled over to sit down with her. The blonde let her fingers lightly run up and down San's arm to calm her down. It always worked before and didn't fail to do so now. The Latina relaxed under Brittany's fingers and moved her hand up to capture the dancer's. She needed a bit of comfort and Brittany was the only person that could give it to her right now. Nothing wrong with a bit of platonic hand holding.

After Glee, Santana drove Brittany home so she could get changed for Karofsky's, then she drove them to her house so she could do the same. Just as Santana was about to start pulling her shirt down over her head, she heard her phone beep. She momentarily tossed the shirt aside to read the text she had gotten. Britt was on the other side of the room playing with one of the stuffed toys that she had gotten Santana.

"We're meeting up with the boys in half an hour. Cool?" San asked the blonde.

"Yup," Brittany replied with a chipper smile on her beautiful face. Santana couldn't resist crossing the room and planting a gentle kiss on those perfect lips. They got a bit distracted from the task at hand after that and ended up being about ten minutes late to Karofsky's place.

It was a nice house. Two stories, painted in pristine white. The lawn was freshly mowed and the driveway was completely clean of dirt. Santana assumed that both of his parents worked to pay the up-keep on this place. She mounted the stairs with Britt in tow and rang the door-bell.

Karofsky opened the door with a smile lighting up his face. "Come on in, ladies," he said, moving aside to let them inside. They followed Dave down a hallway into a large living area. Blaine and Kurt were already seated in there, smiling and watching a movie on the massive TV mounted on the far wall. When Kurt turned to them instead of being polite he asked, "Where have you two been?"

"We were getting ready and then San kissed me then we took off our-" Britt was cut off by a furiously blushing Santana placing a hand over her mouth.

"None of your business," Santana grunted before pulling Britt over to the couch where they sat down. The blonde entwined her fingers with the Latina's and Santana marvelled at how good it felt to be able to do couple-y things in front of other people.

Santana wasn't usually one to care for other people's feelings but lately she had been trying to change that so, throughout the night, she tried to make sure that Karofsky didn't feel like a fifth wheel. Dave told them that his parents were on a trip to his grandparent's place and they wouldn't be back for a few days. He asked them if they would like to stay the night. Both Kurt and Santana wanted to but they had significant others to worry about. They both turned to their partners and asked what they wanted to do. Both Blaine and Brittany wanted to stay as well. It turned out that Britt was actually having a good time. Dave was pretty funny and he was being super nice. She liked when people were like that. It reminded her of San.

**Just so you guys know: any Rachel bashing is purely to keep on track with Santana's bitchy side. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and as usual reviews are always appreciated 3**


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for the lateness that was the last chapter guys, I swear I had uploaded it but I guess I had a massive fail . Well here's the next one I hope you enjoy, thank you for the lovely reviews and enjoooooyy !lurve heart! Glee season 3 tomorrow! So keen!**

Santana finally fell asleep with Brittany nestled snugly on her lap. Across the room Blaine and Kurt had also fallen asleep snuggled up while Dave had passed in an armchair. They had spent the night watching movies on Dave's large TV and laughing at silly things. It was a school night and they probably shouldn't have stayed up so late, but a bit of sleep could be sacrificed to make a friend feel needed.

Santana was awoken to the sound of raised voices. Her mind was foggy from sleep and she could only determine Dave's voice. The other was deeper and definitely the louder of the two. Brittany had shifted on her as she had also been woken up. Santana sat up a little more to try and see the source of the disturbance. She could see the outline of Dave and another person standing in the entrance of the lounge room. She could tell it was a man because the figure was just as tall and broad as Dave.

Their voices had been lowered a bit and Santana could only hear hushed whispers, once she could have sworn she heard the word 'faggot'. That's when it clicked. She looked over to where Brittany was almost straddling her and then over to where Kurt and Blaine were watching the arguing pair. They were in each other's arms and it was obvious to tell they were a couple. Damn it. Dave's dad chose the best night to come home early from his trip.

Santana gently moved Brittany off of her lap and stood up. Dave and his father noticed the movement and they both stopped talking. There was a moment of no speech. No movement. No blinking. And in Santana's case no breathing.

"I think your friends need to leave, David," Dave's father said. It was low and soft but it shook with clear rage that was barely hidden beneath the surface of his gruff exterior.

Dave shot a pleading look at Santana and she knew she had to take Britt and go. But how could she get David to go with them? Kurt and Blaine had jumped up and were already heading towards the door. They both shot Dave a look of pity before they exited. Dave's dad pressed himself against the wall as they passed, as if he was going to catch something from them. God, how could Dave survive this man? As the Latina passed she tugged on the elbow of Dave's shirt.

"Walk us out, Dave?" She said in a false happy voice.

Dave looked at his dad for permission and got it in the form of one slow, stiff nod. Dave quickly placed a hand on each of the girls' backs and guided them out of the house. Kurt and Blaine had been waiting in the car for the girls to get out safely. They both heaved a sigh of relief when Dave brought them out. He showed the girls to Santana's car and even opened the door for the brunette while Britt walked quickly to the other side of the vehicle. It was more out of urgency than politeness but San appreciated it anyway, her hands were shaking and she didn't know how good they would be at opening doors right now. She wasn't scared of Dave's dad. She'd dealt with big dumb assholes before. It was Dave she was scared _for. _When Dave tried to turn away San grabbed his wrist to stop him.

"Dave, get in the car. You can come stay at mine. Please," she stared up at him, begging him to just get in the car and be safe. For a moment he looked like he was going to take her offer and just get in the bloody car, but seeing as Jesus obviously hated the brunette, Dave looked back up the drive to his front door where San could faintly see the outline of Mr Karofsky watching them. Dave turned back to her and shook his big head sadly.

"I have to at least try to explain, San," he whispered. His voice broken voice scared her and almost broke her heart. She tried one last time to convince him to come with her but he refused. There was nothing else she could do. Not with Brittany here. Getting the blonde girl home safe was her top priority right now.

"Fine, if you have to stay then stay. But if anything happens _call me. _I'll be here with my baseball bat so quickly you won't see it coming."

Dave offered her a tiny smile. "Thanks Santana."

"Dave," Santana said before she let him go, "please call me."

David placed a hand over Santana's and he looked her in the eye. "I will. I promise."

…

Instead of dropping Britt off at her house San drove them both back to her place. She knew her parents wouldn't be home as usual and she really needed Brittany there with her. She would never admit it but she needed cuddles and soft words of love from the girl she loved. The brunette turned her key in the lock slowly and let them inside the big empty house.

The moment the door was closed and they were plunged into darkness Santana felt strong arms wrap comfortingly around her waist. She let out a deep shuddering breath that she didn't realize that she had been holding into the crook of Britt's neck. They stood like that for a minute until their eyes had adjusted to the darkness. Britt pulled away and looked the brunette in the eye. Santana was scared for Karofsky.

"He's going to be okay, San," the blonde whispered gently.

Santana desperately wanted to believe that but after seeing the bruise on Dave's eye and knowing that his dad had hit him before, she knew that something was going to go down. She had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that even a Brittany hug hadn't been able to diminish.

San pulled the blonde girl back in for another hug. She was trying so hard to wash her useless thoughts of what Dave was going through right now from her mind. Brittany softly stroking her hair was helping. Eventually, and unfortunately, the hug ended and Santana took the dancer by the hand and led her upstairs to her bedroom. They took their usual places on the Latina's bed, sitting beside each other leaning against the head board. Santana looked Brittany in her beautiful blue eyes.

"Have I told you how much I love you tonight, Britt-Britt?" She asked the blonde gently.

Brittany giggled and kissed the tip of San's nose. "Once or twice," the dancer replied, "but I never tire of hearing it."

"In that case," Santana replied, grinning now, "I love you Brittany S Peirce. I love you even more than Breadstix." Brittany gaped at that. Santana loved something more than Breadstix? Santana loved _her _more than Breadstix? Wow. She voiced her thought to her girlfriend and was met with stunned silence.

"Britt, of course I love you more than Breadstix. It's just a stupid restaurant. I love you more than anything in this world, baby," the brunette told the blonde softly before placing the most gentle kiss on her girlfriend's lips. Santana meant every word. It wasn't like she was close with her family so she couldn't love them anymore than she did the blonde and Britt was her best friend so she would never get in the 'bro's before ho's' situation. They spent the rest of the night like that, each telling the other how much she loved her. When they had gotten to San's house it had already been 1 o'clock in the morning so needless to say they were exhausted at school the following day.

…

Santana had her head down on the desk trying to catch up on the sleep she had missed the night before. Dave hadn't called her yet so her phone was in her hand and it wasn't on silent. Brittany was beside her having an animated discussion with Mike about something dance related. Gosh, that girl could sleep through anything and when she was awake no matter how little sleep she had gotten she was always full of energy. It was one of the things Santana loved about Britt. Her vibrant non-stop personality was incredibly endearing.

Just when the teacher's monotonous voice had almost put her to sleep her phone started to ring very loudly in her hand. 'Barbie Girl' rang out through the room and caught everyone's attention. Even the teacher had been distracted from his boring rant on pi. Santana spared a moment to look over at Brittany questioningly. Britt just shrugged, the Latina should have known better than to lend the blonde her phone and expect it back without an insane ringtone.

The teacher was saying something about confiscating her phone but Santana wasn't listening, she had checked the caller id and it was Dave ringing her. She quickly flipped the mobile open and pressed it to her ear much to the irritation of her now red-faced math teacher. Immediately Dave's voice filled her ear and she knew right away that something was wrong. The boy was crying.

"Santana?"

"Yeah, Dave, I'm here what's going on? Are you alright?"

"Argh, please, San, can you come pick me up?" Dave groaned. "I think I'm hurt bad. My chest really hurts."

"Jesus, Dave what happened?" Santana asked starting to pile her things swiftly into her bag. It was hard to do with one hand to her ear and she was struggling quite a bit until Brittany's steady hands took the books out of hers and started putting them quickly into the little bag Santana had brought to school. The brunette shot Britt and grateful smile before standing up and slinging her bag over her shoulder. She faintly heard the teacher hiss something along the lines of; "Where do you think you're going young lady?" She ignored him of course; she didn't listen to him on the best of days.

"It's my dad. He was fine last night, I mean he yelled b-but he didn't like hit me or anything. Then he left and I thought it was over." Dave's speech was momentarily cut off by a strangled sob before he continued, "he came home about an hour ago and he was drunk. Oh God San it was so much worse this time than it ever was, even when I told him about me."

"Where are you?"

"I'm at home. Can you hurry, please, I don't know when he's coming back," Dave was begging now.

"I'm going to be there in ten minutes, Dave, you hold in there," Santana said, urgency clear in her voice. Brittany had stood up beside her obviously wanting to come with, but Santana knew it would be too dangerous to take her Dave's house when his psycho father could return at any moment. She gently pushed Britt back into her seat and strode from the room.

…

When Santana pulled up at the Karofsky house-hold she didn't bother turning of the engine before she leapt from the car and ran up to the front door. She had burnt rubber getting there and had avoided getting a speeding ticket. Sometimes she could swear the cops would follow her and wait until she really had to get somewhere quickly.

The front door had been left slightly ajar which worried the Latina. She pushed it open and took a hesitant step into the eerily dark house.

"Dave?" She called. She waited for a moment and got no reply. Oh God, what if his dad had come back and had beaten his son to death? Santana realized she was letting her thoughts get the best of her and tried to call out to Dave again, "Karofsky?" She called louder this time, internally pleading for a reply. There was a few seconds of nothing. Then faintly she heard a cough and a husky voice call; "Here!" from somewhere further inside the house.

She ventured inward, dreading what she would find. The voice had come from the kitchen and when she got there it was pitch black and she couldn't see a thing. She blindly fondled the wall until she felt something that felt a little like a light switch. She flicked it and waited an anxious second before the overhead light flickered and came on.

Santana gasped in shock and had to stop herself from taking a repulsed step back. Dave was huddled in a corner with blood covering one side of his face. It seemed to be coming from a gash above his eye. He was clutching his side and unless Santana was mistaken his chest pains would probably be the result of broken ribs. The side of Karofsky's face that wasn't hidden by the blood that had poured from his wound was red and already starting to swell. The guy had been beaten. Hard.

"Christ!" Santana cried after a moment of shocked staring. She grabbed a tea towel off the bench on her over to him and crouched down beside him to press it against his wound. He winced and tried to pull away as she dabbed at his mostly dry cut. She just held his head against her hand and frowned at him. "I watch enough medical dramas to know that you need to keep pressure on that gash or it'll keep bleeding. You're pale enough as it is." That was only partly true. Sure she _did _watch a lot of Grey's Anatomy but her father was also a doctor.

"Can you move?" She asked a little more gently.

"I-I don't know. I tried to move before but…" Karofsky looked down to the side of his chest where he had his hand. "It really hurts, San."

"Okay, I'm going to lift your shirt and look at it," she warned before gingerly removing his hand. He grimaced at even the lightest movement against his side. She lifted his shirt slowly, trying to touch the sore area. She winced when she saw the damage. The area roughly the size of a large male's foot, oh God, had already begun to bruise. Through the light purple shading of Dave's injured side she saw the odd shape of his ribs. Bits sticking out where they shouldn't and other bits sticking in where they shouldn't. He definitely had broken ribs and Santana knew that she wouldn't be able to move him herself through fear of puncturing one of his lungs. Way too much Grey's Anatomy.

Santana took a deep breath before looking Dave in the eye. "David, I need to call an ambulance, okay?"

"Holy shit, is it really that bad?" Dave whimpered in a high, frightened voice.

"No, you're going to be fine," the Latina told him firmly, "but I think your ribs are broken and I wouldn't be surprised if you have a concussion. So I need you to stay still while I call 911."

**End of chapterrrrrr 7! Hope you guys liked it, thought I'd chuck in a bit more drama to keep you on your toes ;) as usual reviews are greatly appreciated and I love you all! :3 **


	8. Chapter 8

**Glee season 3 premiere last night. . How sexy was Santana dancing on the stairs? And Brittany got so into that food fight. What a cutie haha. Anyways here's the next chapter hope you like it :3**

An hour or two after Santana had found her friend broken and bleeding on his kitchen floor, she was still sitting in the waiting room of their local hospital. No-one had yet come out to let her know what was happening with Dave and the brunette was beginning to get worried. Santana heard and felt her phone go off in her pocket. It was a text from Brittany.

_San whats going on u haven't been answering my txts r u ok? – B_

No little kisses or cuddles at the end of this text. Britt must be really worried. She tapped out a quick reply;

_Sorry B at the hospital, Dave is hurt, come see me for cuddles? – S_

Then she cancelled out of her messages and noticed the 8 missed calls from Brittany. Damn, she must have really zoned out. She got one more text from Britt saying that she would be there soon.

It was maybe ten minutes before she heard the click of Britt's heels echoing up the hallway. Santana immediately stood and embraced the blonde. They stayed like that for a moment wrapped up in their own little world before San heard a cough that broke her out of her Brittany induced daze. She hadn't noticed before, but Britt had brought Kurt and Blaine with her. Kurt hugged her. The whole hugging people who aren't Brittany thing was still new to her so it was a little awkward when she hugged him back. Blaine also hugged her. Afterwards San moved to stand next Brittany and they entwined their fingers. The Latina had to admit that holding her girlfriend's hand in public sure felt good.

"How is he?" Kurt asked softly.

Santana sighed, "I honestly don't know. No-one's telling me anything. I asked the primo counter bitch what was going on but she told me she couldn't because I'm not his family."

"Have you called the police?" Blaine asked. Santana sighed again before sitting down with Britt beside her.

"The paramedics did when we got here and they asked me what happened," she said softly. Her head was pounding and she really just wanted to curl up next to Brittany and sleep for days. She would have done just that but she had to be there for Dave when he woke up. That's if these stupid hospital losers let her in to see her friend.

"What are they doing about it?" Blaine asked leaning around Brittany after taking the seat next to her. "Are they going to arrest him?"

"I honestly don't know," Santana replied with a defeated expression, "no-one's telling me anything." It broke Brittany's heart how helpless the brunette sounded. She had really come to care for Dave. Britt didn't exactly understand how, given that she and Karofsky had only really been friends for a little while. It must have something to do with the whole closet gay thing. Whatever, what mattered is that her Santana was hurting and she hated it when San was sad. It made her belly feel all weird.

Britt snuggled into Santana's side and let the brunette bury her face into the crook of her neck. With her free hand she gently ran her fingers through the Latina's dark hair. Santana generally wasn't one for these public displays of affection as you well know, but in times like these all she cared about was getting her cuddle on with her lovely dancer girlfriend. The blonde always managed to wipe her mind of all things bad when she was around. She was faintly aware of Kurt and Blaine talking between themselves over beside Britt. It was nice of them to come here to support David after all he had done to Kurt. At least they had managed to see how much he had grown.

What seemed like Santana's one peaceful moment of the day was interrupted by a gentle attention getting cough. She looked up to see a big tanned man in a white doctor's coat. Naturally Santana recognized him immediately; he was the doctor that was looking after Dave. Oh and he just happened to be her father.

"Papa," Santana said carefully detaching herself from Brittany, "is he okay?"

"Your friend has several broken ribs, a fractured cheek-bone and had to get stitches for the gash above his eye," her father said, "but he is going to be okay." He always spoke calmly and softly. Santana didn't remember ever hearing him raise his voice to her. Dr Lopez was basically the exact opposite to his wife and daughter who were both feisty and loud. If Santana actually saw her dad more than once a week she thought that she could even come to enjoy his company. "Considering his family's… _involvement_ in the incident I've decided to allow you," he glanced at her friends, "and only you, to visit with him."

Santana stood up and threw herself at her dad. She wrapped her arms around him in a hug. He stared down at the top of her head in shock for a moment. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he had hugged or been hugged by his daughter. He smiled softly and, hesitating slightly, placed one hand on the back of her head and wrapped his free arm around her.

"Thank you, Papa," Santana mumbled into his big chest.

"It's okay, mija," he replied, rubbing her back a little. When they broke the hug Dr Lopez shifted on his feet a little, feeling a bit awkward. He pointed towards Dave's room. "Your friend's room is through that door there." Santana nodded and smiled gratefully before turning to go and see her friend. "Mija," her father said a second before she left, "I've had to heavily sedate Mr Karofsky to help with the pain. Don't be surprised if he's not awake when you get in there."

"Okay, Papa, thank you," she turned and gave Britt a smile before making her way over to Dave's door. She was slightly intimidated by the heavy set police officer standing stiffy outside of the room. He didn't try to stop her though. Lucky for him, Santana didn't have to go all Lima Heights on his ass.

"Dave?" She called quietly. She shuddered and wrapped her arms around her torso when the dimly lit room reminded her of walking into the Karofsky house-hold and finding Dave curled up bleeding in a corner.

She pushed that gruesome, nauseating thought from her mind and made her way over to the hospital bed as quietly as she could. The guy deserved an awesome sleep filled with cool morphine induced dreams. She dragged the single chair in the room over to Dave's side and gingerly took his hand in hers. She marvelled at how small hers were in his big bear-hands. Santana almost jumped out of her seat when Dave's massive hand closed around hers. She looked up at his face to find him staring at her with half-lidded eyes. The dude was so out of it. She smiled at him while stealthily checking out his wounds.

The big boy had a bandage wound tight around his forehead for his gash and the other side of his face had swelled to an incredible size. One eye had disappeared into a mass of swollen flesh. He still managed to give her a lopsided grin.

"How you doing, buddy?" Santana asked quietly.

"Pretty damn good actually," Dave chuckled, "this stuff they got me on is amazing!" He said the last part in a stage whisper. Damn, San had to get some of what they had him on. As soon as Dave's happiness came it was gone again, though. His boyish grin faded and he watched her with sombre eyes. "I can never go back there, huh? What am I gonna do San? The doc told me that my mom called earlier. She isn't gonna come see me," Dave laughed again but this time it was bitter and sad, "my family's turned their backs on me. I've got nowhere to go."

Santana looked him firmly in his good eye. "Your family hasn't turned their backs on you, Dave. They're out in the waiting room and in here right now. Me, Britt, Kurt and Blaine? We're your family now. And as for having somewhere to go; I have room back at my place." Santana grinned and squeezed his hand.

Dave smiled and a single tear leaked out of the corner of good eye. He blinked once and then again. The third time he blinked he didn't open his eye again. His head lolled to one side and Santana was worried for a second until a loud snore erupted from his mouth. She stifled her giggles with the back of her free hand. She could definitely use some sleep herself. The Latina stood and placed a gentle kiss to Dave's undamaged cheek and quietly left the room.

She walked slowly over to where the group was waiting. She answered all of their questions about Dave's well-being before taking Brittany's hand and pulling her out of the hospital. While they were in there, day had turned to night and Santana was almost dead on her feet. Before she could sleep though, she had one last thing to do. As she stood on the foot path outside of Lima Memorial she took her girlfriend's hands and looked her in the eyes.

"Brittany Pierce. I love you," she told the blonde before pressing their lips together quickly, "now drive me home so I can gets my sleep on!"

**Hahaha started writing this chapter on Thursday and finished in on Friday. Probably shouldn't be up this late, have to go formal dress shopping tomorrow—or should I say today? Well anyway I hoped you guys enjoyed this chap and I look forward to reading your lovely comments (hint ;D) have a good weeeekend! Just so you know I wrote this whole chapter listening to Valerie (Naya style) on loop, it was amazing.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry it took so long to post this one guys, Word is being a dirty ho atm. I love you guys for reading my story and I super duper love you guys that review, it makes meh feel lurved, :3 To the story!Oh and I did this in Wordpad . so any spelling and grammar mistakes are totally my bad :P**

Santana had thought long and hard about simply smuggling Dave into her house and hoping that her parents don't decide to suddenly become loving and start checking in on her more often. A conversation with her beautiful girlfriend somewhat changed her mind and she decided to ask her parents if Dave could stay with them before resorting to hiding the poor boy in a closet everytime her parents came home. Closet, get it? Anyway Santana thought the perfect opportunity to do this would be when she was visiting Karoksy in hospital.

Her father was his doctor so she often saw him around Lima Memorial when she came to visit. One afternoon after school when the Latina was bringing Dave some homework, she found the perfect opportunity to ask her father about her friend coming to temporarily live with them. She chose to talk to her father because she had more access to him and he was by far the more level headed one out of her parents. She walking toward the room that she had been frequently visiting the last couple days when she passed the cafeteria, and in it Dr Lopez having a coffee before his shift began.

Santana shot a glance down the hall to Dave's door before spinning quickly on her heel and heading toward her dad.

"Papa," she greeted, standing at the opposite end of the table he had seated himself at.

"Santana," Dr Lopez said in reply, a small smile crept up the sides of his face. He had enjoyed seeing his daughter around the hospital. He rarely got to see the girl at home and when he did her mother was usually hounding her with questions about her future. When was Santana going to find a nice boy to date, instead of that pervert with the mo-hawk? After seeing Santana's blonde friend comforting her the day the Karofsky boy was brought in Dr Lopez higly doubted that she would find a nice _boy _to date at all. His daughter's sexual preference didn't bother him but he hadn't yet let his wife in on his revelation due to her heavy Catholic beliefs. He too was raised into Catholicism, but unlike Mrs Lopez's family, his hadn't taken the word of the bible as law. "Are you here to visit your friend, mija?"

"Yes," Santana replied taking the seat opposite her father when he gestured for to sit, "I have some homework for him."

"Oh, I'm sure he'll enjoy that," Dr Lopez grinned.

Santana offered a weak smile at her dad's joke. She was nervous, even though a negative response would still result in Karofsky living under their roof. It would a load of guilt off if they had Santana's parent's blessing for another person to live in the house they barely inhabit but still pay for.

"Papa, I've been meaning to ask you something... umm about where Dave will live when he gets out of here. It's not like he can go home," Santana said hurriedly. The police had not yet apprehended Mr Karofsky for the assault of his son, and he could return to his house at any time. If Dave was there, only God knows what would happen to the poor guy. Besides, his mother had already been in for her one and only visit to her broken son. That visit was a five minute affair that consisted of her informing him that he was no longer welcome in the Karofksy house. The group had expected that to happen but, regardless, Dave was absolutely shattered. Santana had held his hand while he cried himself to sleep.

Dr Lopez was watching his daughter expectantly, when she didn't continue he decided to gently prompt her with related questions. "Does he have any other family that he can stay with?"

Santana shook her head. She knew this for a fact. Ever since Karofsky had landed himself in here two days ago, they had had a lot of time to talk about, well, everything. The only other family he had were his grandparents who hated everything different. He could never stay there now that they knew he was gay. It was why he hadn't gone with his parent's to visit them.

"Papa, I was thinking, maybe he could stay with us?" Santana immediately registered the scepticism and doubt on the big doctor's face so she forged ahead quickly, "As soon as he gets back on his feet and is able he would get a job to pay board, and he would earn his keep around the house." After talking with Dave she had found that it was he that had kept his house in such clean nick. The look of doubt was still etched into her father's features so she did what she hadn't wanted to do. She delivered a single low blow. "It would really be nice to have someone around the house again, you know? I get kinda lonely all by myself." Her finishing move was her best Brittany pout.

The Latina saw her dad's eyes soften at this last statement.

"Oh, mija, I know. Your mama and I do work alot but you understand that I will have to think about letting a boy with in an unsupervised house with my baby girl, right?" He was sort of playing with her now. He knew that this David boy was gay and he had a strong feeling his daughter also waved the rainbow flag. He really was a softie for the underdog. And in this case Dave was certainly that underdog. Most people would think that in their relationship, Mrs Lopez had the power, due to her sometimes overpowering nature, but Dr Lopez had a sway over the woman. He knew he would be able to convince her to let David stay with them.

As Santana began to protest, Dr Lopez held up a hand. "I'm joking mija, I know that _Dave _would not be interested in relations with a member of the opposite sex." Dr Lopez had a habit of generally only speaking intellectually. There was something in his eyes when he made that comment that made Santana think that her father was onto her. She brushed it off. "I will consider letting young Mr Karofsky stay with us and I will talk to your mother about it. We will come to a decision before he is discharged."

Santana grinned, knowing that she had most probably gotten her way. She skipped around the small circular table to bend down and embrace her dad. He was becoming more comfortable with hugging his daughter now, and it reminded him of when she was just a little girl and hadn't yet fully developed her mother's fighting spirit, when he would buy her an ice-cream and she would jump up and down before hugging him with all of her might.

"Thank you, Papa," Santana whispered, feeling breatheless and giddy, "you won't regret this I promise!"

"I better not, mija," her father replied a little sternly. She just gave him an intense and dazzling grin.

**...**

After she had filled Dave in on that day's math criteria and worked through with him a couple of the questions so he knew how to complete the minimal homework that had been assigned to him, Santana left for home, texting Brittany to see if she wanted to come over and get their sweet lady kisses on.

Britt replied almost immediately with a 'hell yeah' followed by several little x's. Santana smiled at the adorableness that was the blonde's every aspect. The Latina swang past Britt's house to pick her up at about 6 and they made it to Santana's at around five past. They barely made it inside the door before their arms were locked around each other and their lips had crashed together. Santana was the first to introduce tongue and Brittany warmly opened her mouth to accomodate the brunette. They stayed like that for a long while until it was becoming an issue to breathe. They broke apart long enough for Santana to whisper, "I missed you," in the blonde's ear before pulling her upstairs towards her bedroom.

Laughing loudly and tripping over each other in their haste they only just made it to Santana's bed before collapsing on top of it. Brittany's hands were wound securely in the Latina's hair while the brunette desperately tried to undoe the buttons of the dancer's blouse. Santana broke away from their kiss long enough to straddle Britt and once again work on those pesky buttons from a better angle. The blonde was getting bored with watching her girlfriend struggle so she pulled Santana back in for another searing kiss. The brunette shifted positions again so one of her thighs were positioned between Brittany's own. She pushed up until she was awarded with a gasping moan of pleasure from the dancer.

**Hope you guys enjoyed! And as usual reviews are not just welcome but encouraged ;) - desperate loser right there, hahaha. I larve chuu all :D**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thanks so much for the reviews, you guys are awesomeee! :3 Anyway I'm glad y'all liked the previous chapter! Once again using Wordpad :P because Word still hates me and refuses to work right now. /dies. So yeah, all mistakes are my fault (and the QLD educations system for not teaching me how to spell properly ;D) Enjoy! (btw i try to reply to all of your reviews so check your inbox if you haven't already)**

Brittany awoke to the pleasant warm feeling of the sun streaming through her window and her girlfriend's arms curled gently around her. She opened her eyes to see the dark skin of Santana's neck right before her. The blonde couldn't help the gentle, butterfly kiss she pressed to other girl's tan skin, before trying to snuggle further into her love's arms. She heard Santana give a contented sigh that let her know the girl was awake.

"Good morning, San," Britt whispered drowsily. Santana pulled away from the dancer long enough to give her a dazzling grin and a quick kiss on the nose.

"Morning, Britt-Britt," the Latina replied in her sexy, husky morning voice. The brunette let her fingers run just under the hem of Britt's shirt letting the blonde know that she was totally up for morning snuggles. Brittany was running a hand gently up the smooth skin of Santana's thigh under her short, silk night-gown when they both heard an engine rumble to a stop in the drive way. They pulled away and looked at each other before Santana swiftly rolled off her bed and strode to the window.

"Shit," Santana said softly, "what the hell is he doing home?" Her dad's Porsche had pulled up to the house and he was currently getting out of the car. The Latina spun around and hastily pulled some decent clothing from her closet for herself then some of the clothes Brittany had left at hers for when they sleep overs like the night before. She had pulled on a pair of jeans, taken off her night-gown and replaced it with a simple black t-shirt before Brittany had even detangled herself from the sheets of Santana's bed.

"Umm," Santana said, watching her girlfriend for a minute, thinking of something to explain her presence, "okay just come down when you're dressed."

Sleep over. A friendly sleep over is why Brittany was there. That's what she would tell her dad. Why in hell was he here anyway? So having a doctor for a father and a high-up corporate lawyer for a mother had it's perks. For one they were pretty wealthy. Santana's mom worked at a law firm a town over from Lima. The town was built at the side of a massive lake, and beside the lake was the Lopez vacation house. Cool right? Sort of. Santana's parents were generally never home because her mom worked right near their get away house and her dad worked nearer to it than he did to their real house. After work both of her parents were pretty wiped out so they didn't want to bother with driving back to the big house and would go straight to the lake-house. And two... ummm I'll get back to you on that one.

She had never before had a situation in which Brittany was over when her parents decided that it was time to actually check up on their teenage daughter. Santana bounded down the stairs and through the kitchen to meet her dad. She stopped short and almost teetered over when there were two people standing in the doorway instead of one. Her dad was holding a heavy suitcase beside Dave. Santana's eyes popped and she had to stop herself from tackling Dave in a huge hug. His ribs weren't healed yet and she didn't want to hurt him, so instead she glomped her dad with such force that he stumbled back a few steps.

"Muchisimas gracias papa!" She tried to shout with her head buried in his chest. It came out muffled but he got the point. Dr Lopez laughed and gently stroked his daughter's hair.

"It's okay, mija," he replied, "now would you mind letting me breathe?" Her dad grinned softly down at his baby girl. Santana blushed, embarrassed at her sudden out burst. Dave was shocked to see the brunette show someone such a display of affection. He grinned at her when she looked at him. The swelling had mostly gone down around his eye, and the skin had turned a deep purple-black. The poor guy had had way too many black eyes for a 17 year old. The bandage around his head was gone and a white patch was secured over his stitched cut. He was slightly hunched over, probably due to his broken ribs. He wouldn't be used to being able to walk about yet.

Dr Lopez made to walk past Santana with Dave's bags, but stopped again almost immediately.

"Erm, hello," he said uncertainly to someone. Oh crap, Santana had completely forgotten about Brittany. Would he believe her 'friendly sleep over' lie after he had seen them cuddling the day Dave was brought in? Let's hope so.

Santana looked past her dad to where Brittany was standing with a broad smile on her face.

"Hi!" She replied in a happy, Brittany voice. "I'm Brittany!" She extended a hand for the big man to shake. He took it.

"I know," Dr Lopez replied, "you can call me Carlos."

"You know?" Santana asked before she could think.

"Yes," he replied, "I've heard you talk about her, and you have pictures of the two of you in your room."

"You've been in my room?" The Latina was so confused. Her dad actually knew things about her! It was really sad that that had to come as such a shock.

He shrugged. "Your mother made me vacuum your floor once," he replied with a frown. After almost laughing at the expression on his face she decided to change the topic away from Brittany.

"Umm, Dave will be staying in the spare room?" She suggested. Dr Lopez nodded his head, smiling a little at his daughter's obvious discomfort. He once again started to take Dave's bags to his new room. Santana sighed in relief at her dad not asking any weird questions as to why Brit was over so early in the morning. She felt a single arm wrap around her shoulders and turned to smile up at Dave who was beaming down at her. It was good to see him so happy after everything that had happened. San led both Dave and Brittany to the lounge-room. A bit slowly because it was still hard for Dave to walk without pain.

They all sat down. "How did you go getting your stuff from your parent's house?"

"Your dad was really good, San. He basically walked up to my mom and told her to have all my stuff ready in bags at the front door when we come back. Then he took me to McDonalds," Dave replied, "when we got back she had done what he said." Dave said this last part a little incredulously. Santana didn't think his parents were the type to take orders from anyone. The Latina smiled as she remembered when her dad used to take her to get food after school sometimes when she was younger.

They all talked for a while until Dr Lopez came back downstairs. He gave Dave an assortment of pills to manage the pain of his broken ribs and cheekbone. He told him to take each pill twice a day and at what times to do so. He said that he could start going to school again after the weekend, only if he wanted to.

"If you think you need an extra week off school that's fine with me," Dr Lopez told Dave. He looked like he had finished until he added at the end, "David, I want you to know that you're safe here. No-one in this house will ever judge or hurt you for being who you are." He quickly looked at Santana when he said this last part.

After that Dr Lopez gave Santana a quick kiss on the forehead and said goodbye to Brittany and Karofsky. Brit commented on how nice San's daddy was before taking the brunette's hand and giving it a squeeze.

**...**

Dave was still awkwardly sitting in an armchair when Santana started making lunch a few hours later. Brittany said she would have stayed another night but Lord Tubbington missed her when she stayed away from home for too long.

San brought Dave's sandwich out to him and he thanked her. She put on Death Race for them to watch while they ate. It was nice watching a movie with someone and having it not be a cartoon. Not that she didn't like cartoons. She generally liked most things Brittany did. Except for Berry. After they had finished their meal Santana took their plates to the kitchen and cleaned them. She kind of had to be a clean freak, basically living alone like she did. It had developed into a habit and now she cleaned Brittany's room for her almost everytime she was over. Brittany said that it was easier to find things when they were on the floor.

When she walked back into the lounge-room Dave was still there staring at a wall looking uncomfortable.

"Dave, seriously, you look really weirded out." She told him.

"Sorry," he replied softly, "I've just never really felt comfortable at other people's houses that's all."

Santana snorted, "Bro, this isn't another person's house. It's yours too now, so get off your ass and I'll show you around."

Dave grinned at her as best he could with a broken cheek bone.

**...**

Karofsky started to feel alot better after the weekend so he decided to accompany Santana to school on Monday. People stared at them as they got out San's car together then walked down the halls of McKinley side by side.

The Latina heard little snippets of conversation as she walked past her fellow students. She heard; "Oh God, what happened to his face?" and even one, "I heard they're back together and she beats him." She thought Dave heard this one too because he shot the girl a venomous look before breaking into a fit of the giggles after they had passed the stupid cow. He really seemed to not care what these people were saying about him. Santana wished she could just disregard what other people said or thought about her. If she could she could come out to everyone and tell that her and Brittany were dating. That would be awesome.

She was so gone with thoughts of holding her girlfriend's hand and kissing her in the hallway that she didn't even notice the blonde approaching her and Karofsky. She was shocked by a pair of startlingly blue eyes staring into her own at a very small distance. She would have to cross her eyes to see Brittany's nose. Santana smiled and leant away.

"What are you doing, Britt-Britt?" She asked gently with a little grin at her girlfriend's cuteness.

"Seeing if you were still all in there," Britt frowned, "you didn't say hello."

Santana reached out and tried her best to smooth away the little lines between Brittany's eyebrows. She hated it when the blonde frowned. It seemed as though the world was lit up by the gorgeous dancer's infectious smile.

"Sorry baby," she said quietly after realizing how couple-y they were acting and removing her hand from her girlfriend's face. "I was just thinking about you is all."

Brittany's frown disappeared and she smiled so brilliantly that Santana felt her heart flutter a little bit. Dave had been watching the display and after realizing that the girls were wrapped up in their own little world right now he smiled and decided to leave them alone. He walked straight the guy's bathroom to see how his cheek was looking.

When he got inside and wrinkled up his nose at the rotten smell in there, he noticed Azimio washing his hands at the sink. Azimio saw him and his jaw dropped.

"Bro, what the hell happened to your face?" He asked in shock.

Dave shrugged, there was no use lying anymore now that it was out and the cops knew that his dad had been beating him. "My dad, man."

"Shit dude, I guess that's why you haven't been here, huh?" Azimio said in a hushed voice still shocked at his mate's appearance. "So what, are you staying with your grandparents or something now?"

"Nah man, they won't have me, I'm staying at Santana's place," Dave replied a little worried at where this conversation was going. He had decided the night after his dad had beaten the crap out of him that he would tell people the truth about his sexuality if it was ever brought up. They were in their last year of school so he wouldn't have to put up with bullying for too long, he was big and could defend himself and, well, he was the biggest homophobic bullier of the school so it would probably be pretty beneficial for other gay kids in the school if he came out. All of this didn't make him feel any better about telling people he was gay. It was a secret that had become so deep that he couldn't imagine just telling people willy nilly.

"How come they wouldn't let you stay? And Santana, are you guys back on or something?" Azimio asked, confused.

Dave took a long steadying breath before replying, "Santana and I aren't back together. We were never _really _together in the first place. My grandparents wouldn't let me stay with them because... well... they're homophobes."

Dave waited for a little while for Azimio to figure what he had just been told. The other boy's eyes widened in realization. Then he started laughing. "I knew it! All those rumours about Santana being a massive dyke were true! Hahaha holy crap bro you dated a lesbian, did she let you watch-." Azimio was cut off by Dave's fist in his jaw. Karofsky ignored the deep spike of pain under his arm and grabbed Azimio by the front of the shirt.

"Number one, _I _am gay you idiot! And two, if you ever call her that or talk about her like that again I will kick your ass!" Dave hissed into his now former friend's face before dropping him and spinning on his heel to leave the bathroom. When he got outside his hand immediately went to his side to grasp his wounded chest.

Now he was out of the moment, his chest was killing him. He managed to stumble into a nearby, deserted classroom before collapsing against the door, gasping.

**...**

Santana was leaning against her locker looking into Brittany's gorgeous eyes from what she considered to be a safe distance when she saw Azimio stumbling down the hallway clutching his face, loudly and angrily grumbling about how a 'faggot' had just hit him. Santana stepped out into the hall to intercept him. When Azimio saw her he smashed into her with his massive shoulder, almost sending her to the ground before basically screaming "DYKE" into her face. He kept walking leaving her there stunned. Every single head in the hall turned to stare at her. After a moment of pure, pin-drop silence whispers started. Dyke? They were saying softly, is there something to what Azimio just said? Is the mighty Santana _gay_? It would explain the way she looks at Brittany.

The brunette's mouth parted slightly and before Brittany could stop her she was running. She sprinted around a corner or two before reaching a less crowded hallway where she turned into the nearest classroom. The bell to begin classes would sound soon but here she could take a silent minute to gather herself. It took her a second to realize she wasn't alone. She was about to order the person to get out when she saw that it was Dave slumped over a desk with his arm curled around his face. His fist was red. Oh, so now she knew who the 'faggot' was that had hit Azimio.

Santana put a gentle hand on Dave's back, making him jump. He hadn't heard her come in. He calmed down a little because it was just Santana. There was a sheen of sweat covering his forehead but after taking one of his pain tablets and letting the effects set in he was feeling better. San pulled up the chair beside him and they quickly exchanged stories. Dave's face contorted in rage when the Latina told him about how Azimio had rammed her and called her a dyke. So now she knew _why _Dave had hit the other guy. She berated him for getting into a fight when he was hurt. In any other cirsumstance she would have high-fived him for punching some homophobic douche-bag in the face but her friend was hurt and although she was moved she couldn't have him fighting for her.

"Do you wanna just get out of here and go home?" Dave asked tiredly. Santana grinned at him calling it home and nodded. Britts would be angry at her for ditching so she decided she would come back for Glee that afternoon to see her girl.

**...**

_Muchisimas gracia papa - Thank you so much dad_

**Bam firepower! So I thought that Dave's this massive guy and that since he was the head of the gay bullying at McKinley and he swapped sides he wouldn't really have **_**too **_**many problems with people trying to start shit with him. Then I remembered his side-kick! . If I get him out of the way I think I might be able to create a more or less safe coming out environment for Dave. Which, in turn, would help Santana in her coming out process, yes? OMG real life is so much easier. I just get drunk and tell people I'm gay. Going to try and make the next one have more Brittana fluff. :P So I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'm so happy at the reviews I got on last chapter. (Which is cool 'cos I wrote it with a hang over.) Sooo keep 'em coming. I love you guyyyys xxxxx **


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks guys for the reviews, you guys are awesome, as usual! :D Umm I have nothing really to blab on about so enjoy!**

**...**

Santana and Dave spent the day watching movies. They had been watching comedies until the Latina put on 'Vampires Suck' at which Dave laughed so hard it had to be turned off to save the football player from keeling over from the pain in his ribs. She had laughed just as hard when she had first watched it. They decided to just watch more action-based movies after that to spare Dave the pain. It was almost three and Santana decided she had best head back to the school to see Britt and, well, deal with what ever rumours had come from Azimio's out burst, which Dave had needlessly apologized for.

After talking for a while with Dave she still hadn't come to a decision as to what to do about telling people she was gay. Sure they assumed she was gay and now there were rumours just floating around the school about her, but rumours and hearing the truth from the subject's mouth were two different things. Would she have the courage to do it?

Santana asked Dave if he would like to join her and after a little thought he agreed. The school was basically deserted after classes were finished so there was no real chance he would run into Azimio or another homophobic asshole on the football team.

**... **

They were a few minutes late and it looked like even Mr Schue had beaten them to the choir room. It was awkward having all eyes on her for the second time that day. No-one here asked what happened to Dave, Santana had asked Quinn to give Mr Schue a heads up on what happened and let him know that he should tell the rest of club. Not that any of them really cared about the big boy's well being.

Santana wasn't sure if everybody was watching her because she was late or because of what Azimio had screamed at her that morning. Either way her heart was beating madly as she walked over to the seat in the back row that had been left empty for her by Britt who was watching her with concern filled eyes. She took the seat in between Britt and Kurt and Dave sat over next to Blaine. They all exchanged quiet pleasantries, with Britt linking her pinky with Santana and asking if she was alright with her baby blues.

"Okay guys, I know we've had kind of alot going on with various members of the group being out," Santana winced at his word choice and she swore she heard a snicker in the front row, "I would just like to welcome back Dave on behalf of the group. I hope you're feeling better."

"Thanks, Mr Schue," Karofsky muttered softly staring at the ground.

Mr Schue carried on with the meeting, talking about various albums and artists that he thought the group should look into for a good number for their next competition. He was rolling his eyes and about to let Rachel take centre stage to perform another show stopping love ballad, when Quinn stood up and took her place in front of the group instead.

"Sorry, Rachel," she said, sounding like she didn't mean it at all. Rachel simply huffed and slumped back in her chair hoping for some Finn loving but not getting any because the big boy was staring at Quinn with a big dopey smile on his face.

With Sam gently strummig on his guitar behind her, Quinn launched into a beautiful rendition of Snow Patrol's 'Chasing Cars'. Quinn really was a pretty cool chick. It was better now they both weren't on the Cheerio's because Santana no longer saw her as a threat. She hoped one day they could get back to how they were before stupid teenage popularity had become such an issue. 

When she was done she smiled over at Santana and Britt before taking Sam's hand and going over to sit down behind Mike and Artie. That's when Santana realized that Artie was watching her. She self consciously removed her pinky from where it was entwined with Brittany's and wrapped her arms around herself. Mr Schue announced to the group that for the remainder of the time, they could talk amongst themselves about songs ideas for Sectionals.

Quinn motioned with her head for San, Britt and the boys to come down to where her and Sam were now sitting at the piano. The Latina forgot all about the cripple's weird staring and made her way down to Quinn with the other's in tow. She really wanted to become friend's with the blonde girl again. She was sad about how their friendship had ended and was keen to get her Unholy Trinity back on.

She almost fell over when she had to abruptly stop due to the wheel chair that had stopped right before her. She raised her eyebrow at Artie and he just gave her a too happy smile.

"So," he drawled, "I heard something interesting in Chemistry today. Is it true?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, wheels," San mumbled as she tried to go around him.

He maneouvered in front of her. "Fine I'll tell you what I heard." Santana wanted to say something to shut the boy up or hit him or do something but she was frozen to the spot. Artie saw her fear and almost backed off, but after seeing the caring and gentle hand Brittany placed on the Latina's shoulder his eyes hardened and he continued. "Sarah Mitchell, the cheerleader? She told me that you're gay. Is it true?"

Everyone in the room had stopped and were now staring at them. Even Mr Schue was watching them with shock and curiosity on his face.

Santana's mouth was dry but she managed to hiss a response at him. "None of your business _cripple_, now get out of my way before I roll you down some stairs." She walked around him and stood near Quinn and Sam who looked just as shocked as the rest of the group.

"Santana!" Mr Schue berated her for insulting Artie who was staring at her smugly.

"That's why you hate me so much isn't it? Because I got to be with her and you can't?" He was smiling as he gestured flippantly to the dancer standing behind him. If only he knew what her and Brittany had been doing while him and Britts were dating. Santana ignored him and stared across the room at nothing in particular. "Or is it because I could tell her that I love her in public? That I could hold her hand and kiss on front of other people?"

Low blow. He had just hit her weakest spot and it caused her to snap. Her anger bubbled up inside her like boiling water that was just begging to come out. Brit saw the anger in her girlfriend's eyes and made her way over to the brunette to try and calm her down, Dave followed also worried about what the Latina might do. "Shut your face, roller-boy! You have no idea what the hell you are talking about so keep your mouth shut before I shut it for you!" She took a menacing step toward the boy. He grinned at her and as Brittany passed him he grabbed her wrist and pulled her down to his face where he pressed his lips against the blonde's. Brittany squealed and jerked away almost as soon as they connected, she jumped back and covered her mouth with her hand.

Santana leapt at him. She was almost on him when Sam wrapped a big arm around her waist and was holding her back. She screamed a mixture of Spanish and English swear words at him, while trying to free herself from Sam's grip to get at the bespectacled boy. "You will die, four-eyes! You touch my girl and I'll kill you! You asshole I'm gonna fucking kick your ass!"

"Santana! Stop!" Mr Schue, shouted standing between her and Artie. It wasn't Mr Schue or Sam that stopped San from kicking and trying to tear her way to Arite, but the beautiful blonde to her right that had grabbed her arm with one hand and was trying to scrub her own tears away with the other. The Latina ceased her struggling immediately and looked at her girlfriend in shock. She had made Britts cry. She pulled out of Sam's hold and pulled Britt into an embrace. She was stroking the blonde's hair and whispering in her ear.

"Oh, Britty I'm sorry, baby," she whispered, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell." She pulled back to look into Britts face. It almost broke her heart to see the blonde in pain because of her. She knew the dancer hated it when she got in fights and yelled. The Latina swiped a thumb under each of the girl's eyes in the most gentle way you could imagine to remove any traces of tears. Brittany's lip was trembling and Santana just had to still it. She did the only thing she could imagine and kissed her oh so softly before pulling away.

It was in this moment when she saw the faint smile curving on Brittany's perfect lips that she knew that she couldn't put herself first anymore. If her girlfriend wanted to kiss her in the hallway. She would kiss her in the god damn hallway. If her beautiful blonde lover was sad, Santana wasn't going to gently stroke her arm so that people didn't suss out their relationship, she was going to pull the girl in and cuddle the fuck out of her until there were no more tears.

Tears were shining in Santana's eyes now and she was no longer apologizing for yelling at stubbles, she was apologizing for all the shitty things she had put Britts through. She was saying sorry for making the blonde wait so long just for her to tell her that she loved the girl in public. It wasn't fair. Brittany deserved someone who would love her anywhere, not just in the safety of her own home. The Latina wasn't about to let someone else have the dancer so she would just have to be the one to love her in public. Now that she thought about it, it would be easy. Nothing had ever come to Santana so naturally before as loving Brittany had. It was basically like breathing. Santana was now alternating between apologizing to Brittany and kissing her soflty on every part of the blonde's face she could get to.

Brittany was grinning now and Santana was too. Nothing was more infectious than Brittany's gorgeous smile. "What?" Santana whispered, so wrapped up in her own little world that she had completely forgotten about the shit that had just gone down.

"San," Britt whispered back, "I love you."

Santana wrapped her arms around her girlfriend's neck and mumbled into her hair letting a single tear of happiness at the dancer's words roll down her cheek, "I love you too, baby. So, so much."

The remainder of the Glee club, excluding Blaine, Kurt, Dave and surprisingly Quinn, were gaping. What the hell? Sure she had been pissed off when Artie was saying all that crap to her and yeah, she was pretty much going to kick his ass after he kissed Britt but all that could be chocked down to the face that Santana was a crazy bitch! She was actually gay? The rumours were true? No offense to Santana but she was basically the slut of McKinley, now we're being told she doesn't even like guys? What is the world coming to?

Santana planted a small butterfly kiss on Brittany's nose before turning to Artie and death glaring him. "Honey," she said softly, "Me and Britt? We've always been on." She took her girlfriend's hand and pulled her out of the choir room. Dave, Kurt, Blaine, and Quinn for some reason, followed the couple out. Santana smiled at the three that had known about her secret and then looked to Quinn to gauge her reaction. She was smiling and something that looked like pride shone in her eyes. San had linked arms with Britts and Quinn came up to her other side and looped her arm through the brunette's free one.

"About damn time," she whispered in the Latina's ear.

**...**

Santana and Britt were laying in Britt's big bed just holding each other. The day had been kind of emotionally exhausting and neither wanted to do anything but hold the girl she loved. They hadn't gone back to San's house because she was conscious that Dave had had a big day too and with his injuries he had probably wanted some peace and quiet. Besides, Britt's parents and sister had gone out to dinner which left the two alone.

"I'm so proud of you, Santana," Britt whispered to her girl. Santana smiled softly but didn't reply. Her eyes were closed and she looked like she was almost asleep. Britt wanted to be the good girlfriend and let San sleep, but she couldn't help but be a little selfish. The blonde leant down and brushed her lips over Santana's gently. San made a little contended noise before kissing back. They stayed like that for a while, just gentle soft kisses that could last forever.

Eventually, Britt ran her tongue along San's bottom lip causing the brunette to smile and open her mouth to allow the blonde entry. Their kiss deepened and soon, hands were locked in hair and clothes were gradually being removed. Their kisses had turned frantic and Santana was expertly removing Britt's bra when they heard the front door slam. Britt pulled away and looked at her alarm clock. How the hell had it gotten so damn late?

**Hahaha bet you thought that was going to go further, hey? Well I'm evil so you're out of luck this time. Stay tuned and there could be more? ;) Well anyways I had fun writing this chapter, hope it worked out well, but that's up to you guys to decide. Thanks for all the reviews! Omg! You guys are fantastic! Keep it up, I larve chuu all :D**


	12. Chapter 12

**Word is back up and running! Woohoo! Maybe with spellcheck on I won't sound like so much of an inbred hick ;) Well here's good old chapter 12. Hope you enjoy and find the time to review :D**

This really wasn't as bad as Santana had thought it would be. Sure occasionally people would look in their direction and sometimes make a quiet unheard comment to their friends about the pair. But there wasn't any drastic bullying going on. Maybe that was because, instead of throwing ice cold slushies in their faces, Dave was walking stoically behind them. His bruises still stood out but thankfully, less.

This was what the Latina had been thinking until, ironically, a wave of blue slushie coated both her and Brittany. Santana took her hand away from her girlfriend's to wipe the sticky substance out of her eyes. Her mouth was hanging slightly open and she glared daggers at the Cheerio who was grinning at her with an empty paper cup in her hand.

"Sorry Santana," she smirked, not sounding sorry at all, "Maybe you can get your girlfriend to _lick _it off for you?" The other cheerleaders behind the girl cackled cruelly at the badly executed lesbian joke. The comment was enough to shock her back to her senses and look over to Britt. The blonde was covered in ice blue slush and her bottom lip was trembling as she tried not to cry. That bitch was making Britt-Britt cry.

Santana's small fist rocked out and connected solidly with the cheerleader's nose. She heard a sickening crunch and before the girl even had a chance to cry out in pain, Santana had grasped her head and slammed it against the lockers beside them. She was launching herself at the other cheerleaders when a strong arm wrapped around her waist. This was getting way too familiar. Why the hell did people always hold her back when she was trying to get her brawl on?

It turns out that Coach Beiste had witnessed the whole scene and had stepped in to intervene when she saw the Latina get violent. Santana was dragged to the principal's office with a sad, cold Brittany following them. Coach Beiste quickly explained the situation to Figgins while Britt and San huddled together outside the office. Beiste motioned them to go inside when she left to go see if the other girl had been tended to.

"Sit down girls," Figgins said with a sigh. "Now, tell me what happened."

"Are you blind?" Santana asked loudly. "They slushied us! That bitch had what was coming to her."

"Coach Beiste tells me that words were exchanged after the slushying?" Figgins prompted, ignoring the Latina's foul mouth and attitude. He had come to accept that no amount of detentions would make her act civil when she was angry.

Santana fell silent at this. Did the principal know about her and Britt? Did it matter? Brittany ended answering for them.

"She said mean things to us," the blonde replied with a sniffle. Santana was slightly shocked that Britt had gotten the insult. She put a comforting hand on the girl's knee and elaborated for their principal.

"It looks like someone's taken the homophobic regime over from where Dave left off," she said slowly trying to see whether Figgins had grasped what she said. His eyes widened after a moment and he glanced down to where the girl's had clasped their hands together.

"Oh," he murmured. "Well it doesn't matter who started it. That was a very violent display, Ms Lopez, and I'm going to have to call your father. That girl could have been hurt." Santana resisted the urge to tell him that it was her intention to _hurt _that skanky cheerleader ho.

She had been in this office enough times for fighting for Figgins to know that he should call Santana's dad instead of her mom. He ended up ringing Britt's mom to come pick her up as well so she could go home and get all that slushie off her clothes and hair. Santana, however, had been sent home for a two week holiday. Great, another suspension. Her dad was going to give her that 'I'm so disappointed in you' look and her mom was going to tear her a new one. She didn't know which she was dreading more. Her father's opinion of her meant a lot to her.

When they were waiting just outside the office for Britt's mom to come out after having a quick word to Principal Figgins, Santana gave her girl a chaste kiss that tasted surprisingly like blueberries.

"I'm sorry I let her do that to you Britty," Santana whispered into the blonde's hair as they hugged, "I won't let anyone do something like that to you again."

Brittany pulled away from their hug and she frowned at the brunette. "I wasn't sad that she tipped slushie on me, San. It's blue and it tastes nice. I wasn't even sad that she said that mean thing to us," Britt explained gently, "I was sad because I knew you were going to hurt her. You know I hate it when you get angry and get into fights. I like to see you all happy and nice. It makes me happy." She whispered that last part to the floor.

"Oh, Britt," Santana almost whimpered as she pulled the blonde in for another hug. The dancer giggled at the squelching sound the slushie made as they pushed their bodies together. "I love you."

"I love you too, San," Britt said with a smile as she leant down a little to kiss her girlfriend. It was soft and gentle and it was ended by a small cough. Santana jerked back to look at Britt's mom.

"Mrs Pierce, I can explain-," Santana said quickly before she was cut off.

"Honestly girls you aren't as stealthy as you think you are," the older woman laughed. "Come on Brittany, we should get you home and cleaned up." She put her hand on Santana's shoulder and looked at her with concern in her eyes. "Is someone coming to pick you up, sweetie?"

Santana was still slightly shocked at the fact that Mrs Pierce had known about them and she looked over to Britt who was just beaming her little, 'life is so awesome' smile. San blinked a couple times before replying, "Yeah my dad should be here to pick me up soon."

"Okay honey, I'll see you later. You should come around for dinner soon, Indie misses you," Mrs Pierce told her before wrapping an arm around her daughters shoulders and leading her out of the school. Britt waved over her shoulder to San who smiled back. It was nice to know Britt's little sister missed her. She was a cool kid.

Santana had almost forgotten that her dad was going to be picking her up. Damn, she would have to leave her car here. As she was thinking this, Dr Lopez strode into the room. He barely glanced at her before going into Figgins' office and taking a seat. He had been through this enough to know the procedure. The adults were in there for all of five minutes before Dr Lopez re-emerged and led Santana from the school with a steady hand on her shoulder.

He didn't talk until they were both sitting in his Porsche. He turned to her with what looked like a defeated expression on his face.

"This is the _third _fight you've been in this year!" He sounded confused. "What is going on, mija? What was it this time? She looked at you funny?"

Santana felt tears prick in her eyes and not the fake ones she used to use to get out of trouble when she was younger. She turned away from her father to look out the window and inconspicuously wipe the tears from her eyes.

"Mija," he said, softer this time, as he gently took her chin and turned her face back to him.

Santana let out a sob and buried her face in her hands. She felt her father's strong arms wrap around her. "Papa, they hate me! I didn't think it would be so hard," she sobbed into his shirt, "I didn't think they would go for _her _too. She's so sweet and she's never done anything to hurt anyone!"

Dr Lopez thought about what she was saying for asking his soft question, "Brittany?"

Santana cried harder but nodded against his chest. "They hate me because of what I am. I hate being wrong!"

Dr Lopez stopped patting his daughter's back and pulled away from her. The look in his eyes was something akin to anger. Oh God he had figured it out and now he would hate her.

"Don't you ever let me hear you talk that way again! You are not wrong no matter what anyone says!" Santana was shocked at his words. "Do you love her?" He asked softly.

Santana hesitated before slowly nodding her head. "Then how can your love be wrong?" He asked so gently she almost started crying again. "You love her and she loves you, right? I see nothing wrong with that." Santana pulled her dad in and hugged him again. He was so right. Nothing that had anything to do with Brittany could be wrong. The girl was perfect. San wiped her tears and offered her dad a watery smile.

Dr Lopez looked down at the blue stain on his white work shirt and couldn't help but laugh a little. "This is what bullies do nowadays?" He shook his head and drove them home. He still had a lot of things to talk to his daughter about. He wasn't going to let her get away with assaulting someone but he was going to go a little easier on her this time. Maybe he would neglect to tell Mrs Lopez about what had happened.

**That was a short one, huh. Sorry! Next time I'll try to make it longer :D Hope you guys can review 'cos you know it makes me smile like a dumbass :P Hope you liked eeet.**


	13. Chapter 13

**30 Reviews :') I love you guys. Keep up the good work ;) anyways…**

**I Am Unicorn: How cute was Puck with Beth? Quinn's looking slightly evil :S and there should have been more Brittana but…that scene with them was really cute so I won't riot. **

After giving Santana a huge list of chores to do while she was suspended from school, Dr Lopez left to return to work, warning her that he would be back later to see what she had done. Santana wasn't complaining. First of all, he hadn't told her mom which was awesome. It would be so embarrassing for Dave to have to listen to her mom yell at her in Spanish. Second, the chores he had given her were ones she did all the time anyway. So that was fine. One thing she _did _have to complain about was that she couldn't see any of her friends until she returned to school. To the exclusion of Karofsky of course.

Santana set about mopping and cleaning various things in the house. Her dad must have thought she was cleaning impaired because he gave her barely anything to do and she was finished all her work quickly. She decided to do some homework until Dave got home and she had someone to talk to. It was nice to finally have someone to talk to around here.

She settled on Trig and thought she should call Brittany. Her dad said no _seeing _her friends; he didn't say anything about talking to them. She was going to go see Britt and use the excuse that she was her girlfriend not her friend but she didn't want to lie to her dad. Britt was her best friend regardless of their relationship status. She didn't want to disobey her dad when he had just done something really nice for her.

She was on the phone to Brittany for a total of three hours. Thank God for unlimited credit. After Britt had to hang up to help her mom with baking duck-shaped cookies, Santana sent her several texts about how much she loved the blonde before tossing her phone over onto the pillow beside her. She stared at the cell-phone for a second with a smile on her lips, thinking about Brittany.

She started humming 'Songbird' while she completed her Trig homework, happy to have something to occupy her time until Dave got home.

…

Two whole weeks. Two whole weeks and she managed to survive without Brittany. It wasn't easy, trust me. It had been like going through withdrawal from her blonde girlfriend. Her heart would ache and at times she would be sitting in her car ready to go over to Britt's house to see her when guilt came crashing in she got back out to walk slowly back to the house.

Finally! She got up two hours earlier than she usually did and left a note for Karofsky that she would be back to pick him up for school later that morning. San was dressed and ready at an ungodly hour of the morning. She rushed out of the house and into her car. She was down the street and at Brittany's place in record time.

She thought it would be a bit weird knocking on the Pierce's door at 5:30 in the morning so she decided to climb in through the window. Nothing she hadn't done before. There was a tree conveniently placed outside's Britt's second story window for her to climb, which she did with ease. After you climb a pyramid of cheerleaders for so long, one measly tree becomes easy.

She was knocking at Brittany's window seconds later. It took a moment for the sleep ruffled blonde to roll out of bed and come over to open the window. She blinked at Santana, looking confused.

"Is it time for school already, San?" She asked in the most adorable, half-awake voice. Her cute question inspired the Latina to bend in and kiss Britt softly on the lips, only to lean back again and be graced with the gorgeous smile of the girl she loved. Santana climbed into the room and took Brittany into a warm hug.

"Not yet, Britt," she whispered, "you can go back to sleep." Brittany pulled them both back over to her bed and fell back on it. She scooted under the covers and waited for San to join her. Once they were both snuggled up and warm they fell asleep in each other's arms. It had been too long since they had been like this. Santana made a pact with herself to never let something like this happen again. She wouldn't do anything that would take her away from Brittany.

They slept until Britt's alarm went off. It was an obnoxious sound, one of ducks quacking continuously. Santana rolled over and punched the alarm clock unceremoniously. She only picked it up with a sigh when Britt pouted at her. Whipped and loving it.

**...**

After picking up Dave they headed over to the school to face another day of hell. While talking over the phone, through text and occasionally Skype, Santana had found that no-one had messed with Brittany since, what she liked to call, 'the locker-head-slam' incident. The girl she had punched ended up not having a broken nose which is lucky for Santana because if you mess with a girl's face you're going to get your ass kicked one way or another.

Apparently it only took two weeks for things to die down and for people to stop caring about her and Brittany. The only people to give them dirty looks were Azimio and his crew of footballers. Dave was feeling much better and had even been able to cut down a little on his pain meds so no-one was game to mess the man mountain. All of this didn't stop Santana from being super cautious of anyone walking past them with slushie in hand.

When they walked into Glee club that afternoon, San was tackle-hugged by Kurt while Blaine laughed from behind him. Instead of sitting with them Dave gave her a gentle squeeze on the shoulder and went to sit with Puck and Mike who greeted him with high-fives. Damn, two weeks and a lot had changed. Santana was contentedly sitting in the back row with her fingers linked with Brittany's. She barely paid attention to the teacher. Her thoughts were solely on Britt's gentle fingers brushing softly up and down the inside of her wrist. It was nice to hold her girlfriend's hand like this. Britt was watching the Latina wondering what she was smiling about.

As usual the blonde was wondering what was going on in Santana's mind. She had no idea that the only thing that could make San smile like that was her. She didn't even know it but she was the reason the brunette woke up in the morning. She was keen to get Santana's attention and break her out of whatever fantasy land she was in. Were there unicorns there? Britt liked unicorns. The blonde leant over and kissed San gently on the cheek. San turned with a smile and a little confusion in her eyes. Brittany smiled and captured her girlfriend's lips in her own. She could kiss her girlfriend in public! Could life get any better?

…

When they got home Santana quickly turned to Dave.

"Brittany and I are going to go… erm, study," she told him before turning to pull Britt up the stairs toward her bedroom. They left Dave with a slight terrified look on his face. They totally wouldn't be studying.

When they got to Santana's room she spun to look at Brittany. She was a little shocked to see the blonde frowning.

"What's wrong Britt?" She asked gently.

"I didn't think we were going to be studying, San," she replied softly, completely unaware of how sexy she was with her lip between her teeth as she thought, "I thought we would be having sweet lady kisses."

Santana laughed and kissed her girlfriend. "Anything you want, baby," Santana said as she pulled Britt over to her bed. She heard a soft 'I want a unicorn' before Brittany was kissing a slow line down her neck. Santana shuddered with pleasure. Her girl didn't need to know algebra when she could do _that. _When the Latina felt a slight flicker of tongue against her skin she pulled Brittany's face back up to hers so she could taste that perfect mouth.

Santana pushed them up into a sitting position so she could easily strip off the shirt Britt was wearing. Brittany returned the favour and they were once again kissing. Soon the blonde was straddling the Latina and her hands seemed to be everywhere at once. Before things could go much farther San took Britt's hands to still them for a moment.

"Brittany," she said gently looking up into Britt's eyes, "I love you."

Brittany grinned down at her and leant in to capture her lips again, but his time softly, tenderly. She pulled back to catch the brunette's gaze. "I love you too, San. And I missed you."

**Ahkay. Hoped you liked it! Sort of a filler I guess. Hope that Brittana was cute enough. :D Thanks again for all of your lovely reviews and thanks for reading! You guys are great. Happy Chapter 13!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14 ahoy! :P how lame of me. Anyway, here's chapter 14 and thank you beautiful people for reading and reviewing, it's super lovely. Just so you know I have a Quinntana fic out there now so you might wish to give that a quick once over. Thanks! Oh and I will be going back to hell—I mean school xD next week so I'm afraid chaps are going to come slower :'( Don't worry! I will be graduating soon :D**

Santana pottered around the house, tidying things up before she started cooking breakfast for herself, Britt and Dave. Pancakes sounded super awesome. Oh, and she had a duck-shaped cookie cutter at her house so that would be good for Britts. She heard a door open and the downstairs toilet flush. Dave was awake. He walked out into the kitchen wearing just his boxers. Sure, it was cool that he had become so comfortable with living here that he could walk around shirtless, but that didn't change the fact that Santana did not want to see him half-naked.

She gave him what he liked to call the 'Clothes. Now' look before she returned to cooking. He rolled his eyes good naturedly and went to find a shirt. Santana switched the radio on and started to dance a little while she cooked. Hearing Jessie J's 'Do It Like a Dude', Brittany came down from upstairs wearing just a baggy shirt that fell half way down her awesome thighs.

Santana didn't mind it when Brittany walked around her house half-naked. Britt came up behind San for a cuddle. She wrapped her arms around the brunette and giggled when San kept dancing. Santana twisted in Britt's arms so they were facing each other. She ducked her head a little to kiss her girlfriend. They danced a little until Santana had to turn around to flip the pancake she was working on.

"Why is it that Brittany can walk around in just that and I can't walk around without a shirt?" Dave whined from behind them. Santana twisted in Britt's arm again so she could look at Dave over the blonde's shoulder.

"'Cause I like to get my pervs on at Britts," Santana replied running her hands down Britt's sides seductively. Brittany took this as a sign to move her body more to the music.

"Oh God," Dave mock-gagged at them, "do you mind not doing that when I'm in here?"

Santana laughed at him and turned around again to transfer the pancake she was working on from the pan to a plate. She poured more mixture into the pan while slowly rocking her body against Britts. She liked these fun moments with her friend and the girl she loved with all her heart.

After all the pancakes had been cooked and she had playfully slapped away Brittany's hand from the food a few times, Santana cut duck shapes into a third of the pancakes and put them on the table. Dave smiled and thanked her before digging in with a male's appetite. Britt kissed her on the cheek and whispered, "Thanks for the ducks, San."

…

Ah, Tuesday. Better than Monday but still shitty. It was their last year of school, thank God. One more year and she would be at college. Freedom! The only bad thing about graduation was that Britts probably wasn't going to be able to graduate. It didn't matter though. Santana had it all planned out. Her and Britts would move into a place together. Maybe her house considering her parents were never there anyway. Britts would repeat senior year and hopefully graduate this time. She would go to the college over in the next town so she could just drive home to her girl every night.

Life would be awesome as soon as she got away from the glares and accusatory looks in the hallways. A downside of her graduating and Britts staying behind was that Santana wouldn't be there to stop people from picking on the blonde. She needed to find a remedy for that as soon as possible. Maybe her and Blaine could stick together, given that he is a junior and wouldn't be graduating this year either.

Well, whatever would happen she had a year to figure it out. A year to be with Brittany and a year to be with people who were steadily becoming her friends. Apparently coming out had been the much needed cure for her bitchiness. Okay sure she had pushed a freshman into a trash can the day before but it was a work in progress.

San had dropped Brittany off at her Home Economics class and was now walking with Dave to English. He was looking much better now. His cheek was back to its usual size and it was now barely bruised. The bandage and patch had been removed from above his eye to reveal a line of scab that would most probably scar. He could stretch more too. Soon he thought he would be able to go back to playing football.

That sat together in English and Santana had found that Dave was actually a decent student. He would make some guy very happy one day.

…

Glee was fun that afternoon, Santana and Britt had sat together on stools in front on the club and sung 'Mr Know It All' by Kelly Clarkson. The club members had joined in and sang along with them. Mike had come up and broke out some epic ninja dance moves and Brittany joined him after a little while. Santana had taken over the song while Britts showed Chang how to really dance and soon Dave was sitting on the seat Britt had recently vacated. He added a strong low voice to the main chorus and after the song had finished Santana looked at him with pleasant surprise.

"The boy can sing," she said, giving him a high-five. He grinned a little and looked down, blushing. Quinn came over and praised them with Sam in tow. The fool was so love struck. Santana had to stifle a giggle at how massive that mouth was. Even Berry came to congratulate them on a 'more than adequate performance'.

What a troll. She didn't say this of course. She had learnt to put a filter between her brain and her mouth. Santana just gave Rachel a wooden grin before heading to the back of the room where Kurt and Blaine were quietly discussing something. Blaine was smiling and had Kurt's hands in his. They were disgustingly cute and the brunette said as much when she reached them. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"I could say the same to you," he said looking over at Brittany. Santana followed his gaze to where the blonde was laughing at Mike who was doing some kind of weird dance. Santana found herself grinning at her perfect girlfriend. Brittany saw her and gave her a cute, shy little smile.

The Latina turned back to her two friends that were watching her with happiness in their eyes. She shrugged and nodded.

"I'll admit that we are pretty damn cute," Santana said before grabbing a chair and turning it so it was facing the couple. "So what did I interrupt?"

Kurt rolled his eyes but Blaine answered, "You didn't interrupt anything Santana, we were just planning a date, that's all."

Santana frowned. A date? "Do you guys do that often?"

Kurt shrugged, "yeah we try to go on a date once a week. Keep things fresh." He grinned at his boyfriend who beamed back just as spectacularly.

Santana once again turned to look at Britt. They hadn't been on a date before. Well not a real one. Getting a guy to take them to dinner and then ignoring him didn't exactly count. A plan began to form in her head.

…

Brittany didn't know why Santana wasn't telling her where they were going. The Latina had also brought a big box covered with a blanket. Every time Britt would try to sneak a peek under the blanket, Santana would tell her, "no peeking, BrittBritt, you'll see when we get there."

Brittany would pout at her and ask, "where is 'there'?" Santana would have to grip the steering wheel harder so as to not give into that adorable pout of doom.

"You'll see," she would reply softly with a slightly evil smirk.

Finally they reached their destination and Santana quickly came around to Britt's side of the car to open the door for her. The blonde gave her a suspicious look before asking; "what is all of this, San?"

Santana grinned and leant in to kiss Britt. When she pulled away she replied as if it were obvious, "this? This is our first date!"

Brittany looked slightly dazed before she pulled Santana into a hug. She pulled back and planted little kisses all over the brunette's face. "You don't know how long I've wanted this," she whispered with a smile.

"Me too Britt," Santana replied before stepping back out of the hug and going to one of the back doors to grab the blanket covered box that conveniently had a handle. Brittany now had a chance to survey her surroundings. She didn't think she had ever been here before. It was only a 20 minute drive from her house. It was outdoors, with big green-topped trees creating a wall around them. There was trail through the trees to the left and that was where Santana was heading. The Latina pointed behind with her electronic key to lock the car with that little noise Britt loved. The blonde jogged to catch up with the brunette who took her hand when she reached her.

They smiled at each other as they walked down the path. After about five minutes of walking they turned a corner to reveal a big open patch of luscious green grass that ran down to the bank of a large pond. Brittany squealed at the group of ducks floating in the centre of the pond. She spun and furiously hugged Santana until the brunette could barely breathe. The dancer then proceeded to take of her shoes, almost falling on her face, and run across the field to the edge of the pond where she stared intently at the ducks.

Santana giggled and made her way over to the centre of the grassy area where she uncovered the picnic basket and laid the blanket she had brought with them. After placing the basket on the blanket, she removed a loaf of bread from it and walked down to give it to Britt.

"Here," she said passing the loaf to Britt.

Brittany frowned at the bread. "Can I watch the ducks a little while longer before we eat, San?"

Santana laughed at her girlfriend and tore a small piece of bread off of the loaf and tossed it out into the pond. Brittany gaped in delight as the ducks all started swimming toward the bread. She squealed again and wrapped her arms around San's neck before bringing her in for a searing kiss.

**BAM. Okay that might be my last chapter for a few days so if I can't update for a while it's because I have managed to get a social life (party tonight) and I have school on Monday :'( **


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while guys, I've been busy with school (and Skins :P). So, Asian F: I know I should be annoyed at the lack of Brittana (FML) but Brittany was so sexy in her performance for president that I almost died while drooling. Anyway here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy :3**

After managing to kiss Santana senseless Britt began to toss small chunks of bread out to the ducks, each piece bringing them closer to their blonde admirer. Brittany giggled every time a piece of the loaf would make that plopping sound as it hit the water. Santana was rendered speechless by the pure cuteness that was Brittany S. Pierce. She shook her head with a small smile on her lips and made her way back to the picnic blanket to lay out the food she brought along with them.

It took Britts a while to finish playing with the ducks. At one stage she sent Santana into a fit of mad laughter as she jumped, knee deep, into the water to chase a duck that had ventured too close. The blonde made her way back to her girlfriend with a massive grin on her face.

"Thank you so much, San," the blonde breathed before kissing the Latina gently on the forehead. She then sat down beside her with a thump. Her jeans were wet with lake water and her shoes were dripping water. Santana entertained the thought of telling Brittany she would catch hypothermia in order to get her to take of her pants, but she decided against it. It was a public place after all. Santana settled with ordering her girlfriend to remove her shoes and socks at least.

Soon Britt was lying on her stomach with her bare feet in the air as she hummed and ate a sandwich, occasionally looking up and grinning at Santana. When she had finished her sandwich Britt rolled over onto her back and stared at the sky. Santana came over and lay beside her. They stayed like that, just talking, until the sky started to darken and the first stars started to dot the sky. The Latina hadn't realized how late it had gotten. They must have lain together for hours. She had to say it was the best first date she had ever been on. Hell, it was the best date she had ever been on at all. She looked forward to many more like it.

…

Brittany had wanted to stay the night at Santana's but the Latina told her that her parents were home tonight so they would have to take a rain check. Britts frowned until Santana led her up to her door step and gave her a chaste kiss goodnight. Brittany liked dates with Santana, they were awesome.

When the blonde went inside she heard loud snoring coming from the lounge room. She followed the noise and found her dad leaning back in an arm chair with a newspaper open on his lap. His head was thrown backward and Britt had to supress a giggle at his incredibly loud snoring. She looked over to see her mother watching her. The TV was on in front of her and she had probably been watching it when Britt had walked in.

"Hey, mom," she said quietly, so as to not wake her father, before making her way over to kiss her mom on the forehead.

"Hi, sweetie," the older woman replied, "how was your date?"

Brittany grinned before plopping down beside her mom and going on a quiet rant about how good her date with Santana had been. Her mother just grinned and nodded at the young dancer. She was infinitely happy that the girl was comfortable with talking to her about this. She was happy that it was Santana her daughter had chosen to date. She couldn't remember ever hearing about the two of them having a fight. That Artie boy, though. She had heard about that, some asshole making her daughter cry.

Some parents might have been shocked to find out that their daughter was dating another girl but Mrs Pierce had accepted it with relief. It meant no chance of teenage pregnancy, unfortunately with Brittany's occasional naivety it was a high possibility, and it meant that she was dating someone that Mrs Pierce had known since the girl was just a small child. She trusted Santana with Brittany. She knew the Latina would look after her daughter and love her properly. From the sound of this date her daughter's girlfriend was doing just that.

The problem with the situation, however, would be telling Mr Pierce and Indie about it. She knew her husband would be fine with it. A little confused and maybe a touch sad that the dreams every parent had for their daughter's wouldn't be the way his brain had planned them out. It would be hard for him to wrap his head around not walking his oldest daughter up the isle with a man standing at the end. Nonetheless he was a good dad and would love and support his daughter no matter what. Besides, he simply adored Santana. What was more concerning was having to explain the birds and the birds to their younger daughter.

Brittany was still swooning over how amazing Santana had been and how lovely the lake had been and how awesome the ducks had been. It wasn't unusual for Brittany to act excited and energetic but when she talked about Santana there was something in the way she spoke. Her eyes softened and a smile played about her lips. Her voice took on this wistful tone that Mrs Pierce knew she used when she told people about her own relationship with her husband. It had taken a very long time for her to find him, so she was happy to see that Britt had found what seemed like a very deep love at such a young age.

Brittany mooned for a little while longer until she exclaimed a little too loudly about how pretty Santana had been that day and Mr Pierce awoke with a grunt. He looked around bleary eyed to find what woke him up. He saw his oldest and his wife sitting on the couch and he smiled tiredly at them. He yawned and stood up to walk over and give Britts a hug.

…

At Santana's place there was a lot less family love going around. Mrs Lopez was on a rant about how Santana should be thinking about going to a better college than the one she had chosen. Santana was getting angrier by the minute. Her mom made her snap when she made the stupidest mistake. She brought Brittany into the conversation.

"You could do so much better than going to a second rate college in the middle of nowhere, mija," she said. "Do you want to end up in a dead end job like that Brittany girl you insist on spending so much time with is no doubt going to?"

Santana was seeing red and her Dr Lopez almost saw the steam come from his daughter's ears. "Don't talk about Britt like that!" She hissed. Her dad put a hand on her shoulder when she made to stand up. "Brittany's going to do great things! She is going to become a famous dancer or dance teacher! She's not dumb and you don't know her so don't talk about her like that!"

Mrs Lopez, with a fuse equally as short as her daughter's, stood and shouted, "Don't take that tone with me!"

"Why do you even care what college I go to?" She shouted at her mom, "you're never here to care about me now, how's it going to be different when I graduate?"

"How dare you say I don't care about you?" Her mom shouted back, red in the face. Dr Lopez knew he should intervene but he thought that some things needed to be vented and it was going to happen eventually, so why not now? "Your father and I have given you everything you've ever asked for!"

Santana was furious to find that she had tears building in her almost black eyes. "All I ever wanted form you was for you to be here! For my mom to be here to hug me when I was sad and for my dad to threaten boys I brought home! But, no! You're never even here! You don't know a thing about me, mom! You didn't even notice that Britt's my girlfriend!"

The tears that had been threatening to pour down her cheeks chose that moment to do so. Her mother looked like she was about to reply, before her face slackened and the full force what her daughter had said hit her. The older Latina stood, grabbed her coat and purse and promptly left the house. Santana was stunned at her mother's reaction. Dr Lopez, too, was stunned into inaction for a moment before he stood and pulled his daughter into his big arms.

"Shhh, mija," he whispered into her hair, "It will be okay. She'll come around." If Santana could see the worried expression on her dad's face she might have had more trouble believing him. Dave came out of his room then. He had heard the whole thing and wanted to see if Santana was okay.

"San?" He asked tentatively. She spun in her dad's arms and launched herself at her friend. He gave her a massive hug. Dr Lopez ran a steadying hand over his face. This could not continue. Santana had been right about him and his wife neglecting her. And he would not have the two most important people in his life fighting over something his daughter could not possible control.

He put his hand gently on Santana's shoulder, making twist her head on Dave's chest to look at him through her tears.

"Mija, I need to go and find your mother. Talk some sense into her," he muttered, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead before fetching his keys. He shot a quick look of gratitude to Dave before leaving.

Karofsky held a sobbing Santana until she started to fall asleep. Her head drooped and her eyes became heavy. Dave led her upstairs to her bed. He laid her down and tucked a stray piece of hair behind one of her ears. She had fallen asleep as soon as her head had hit the pillow.

**Did you see that coming? 'Cos I sure as hell didn't. I like to let my stories go their own way. I'm not so sure if that's such a good thing. And OMG on a completely unrelated topic: I'm watching an episode of Angel right now and I forgot how bloody gorgeous Eliza Dushku is. FML that woman is positively beautiful. Haha, anyways, hope you enjoyed and feel free to review :3 **


	16. Chapter 16

**Please don't hate me for being so slow to update! I'm sorry! I've fallen out of the writing mood lately I guess :S I've been so focused on procrastinating on school work that I haven't had the time to write anything. Anyways, here's the next chapter, I hope you guys like it and can maybe find the time to review?**

Santana didn't come to school that day and Brittany was worried about her. The Latina usually texted if she wasn't coming to school. The blonde had been sending her girlfriend messages all morning asking where she was and if she was okay but Santana wasn't replying. At lunch she easily found Dave in the cafeteria. He seemed a little distracted by Azimio glaring at him from across the room and Britt had to wave her hand in front of his face to get his attention. He looked down at her, slightly annoyed.

"What is it Brittany?" He asked before turning back to his staring competition with his team mate.

"Where's San?" The blonde asked him. "I'm worried about her and she hasn't been replying to my texts."

This seemed to snap the big boy out of his daze. "She didn't tell you?" He asked with a little confusion.

Brittany frowned, "tell me what? Is she okay?"

"Hey," Karofsky said, comfortingly placnig a hand on her shoulder, "she's fine. She's just a little upset right now. She's not returning my texts either. We still have a half hour until third period so I can drive you back to our place if you want?"

**...**

Santana heard the familiar click of a key turning in the lock and her thoughts immediately turned to her mother. Had she come back wanting to reconcile and tell her everything was okay? The Latina then heard Dave's familiar voice echo up the stairwell. "Santana?"

She sighed and rolled over on her bed to look at her alarm clock, it was only 11:30. What was he doing home? She heard footsteps coming up the stairs and it barely registered that they were too light to be big Dave's.

A frazzled looking Brittany burst into the room and upon seeing Santana she dived onto the bed and tackled her girlfriend into a hug. Santana let out a grunt while Brittany wrapped her arms and legs around her in a very Brittany-esque hug. The brunette probably would have had a problem with the air being crushed out of her lungs if her girlfriend hadn't been gently nuzzling her neck through a dark curtain of hair.

"Dave told me what happened," the blonde whispered into her neck before pulling away to look her in the face. Santana looked away and to the wall. Brittany slid a hand up to take San's face and gentle turn it back toward her. Britt looked her in the eye and kissed her gently on the lips. "It'll be okay, San."

Looking into Brittany's flawlessly blue eyes Santana lost her train of thought and for a moment could not think of a single reason why anything wouldn't be okay. She only realized that she had a dopey smile on her face when she heard a loud mock gag coming from the door to her room.

She looked over to a smiling Dave with a frown on her face. She flipped him off before turning back to her girlfriend who was grinning down at her. Brittany leant down and kissed her before unwrapping herself and getting off the bed. Britt grabbed Santana's hand and pulled her off her bed.

"Britt, what are you doing?" The Latina asked huffily.

Brittany shot her a smile before dragging her to the bathroom. "You need to have a shower and get ready for school," she simpered.

Santana grinned devilishly, she would be quite happy to go to school, even if it was already half over, if it meant Brittany helping her shower. "Oh God," Dave said, more resigned than disgusted, "is that the only thing you two ever think about?"

**...**

Brittany ended up going back to Santana's with her and Dave after Glee that afternoon. Thir laughing and playing around was interrupted but a light cough. Santana's eyes shot up to her mother who was sitting on a stool next to the kitchen counter. The older Latina's eyes feel on San's fingers that were entwined with Brittany's. Britt went to tug her hand away, cautious of Mrs Lopez's coming reaction. Santana wouldn't let her hand go which gave Britt a bit more courage in facing her girl's mom.

"Mija," she said softly, "we need to talk."

Dave cleared his throat and mumbled something about to his room. He shuffled. Mr Lopez watched him go and then his eyes fell on Santana and Brittany. His daughter had a hard set to her jaw, oh so much like her mom. She had determination in her eyes and her hand was settled firmly in the blonde's next to her.

"Alone mija," Mrs Lopez said more loudly this time. "We need to talk as a family."

"Brittany stays," Santana said coldly, "she is family."

Mrs Lopez's eyes flashed with anger and she opened her mouth to retort.

Mr Lopez fortunately beat her to it. "Brittany can stay." His wife shot him a dark glare before turning her gaze back to her only child.

"I'm sorry for leaving here so quickly last night, mija," she said, her eyes softened a little at this. She sounded genuinely guilty. "It was... a shock, that's all."

Santana nodded her head, "I understand that mom. But you're going to have to get used to it. I love Brittany and I'm going to be with her no matter what anyone else says."

Santana was slightly shocked when a slow smile spread over her mom's face. She had tears in her eyes as she said, "you know that's exactly what I said to your grandmother about your papa when I was your age?"

Mr Lopez wrapped an arm around his wife and pulled her close. "You two are so alike sometimes."

Mrs Lopez turned her eyes on a very uncomfortable looking Brittany. "So… how long have you been sleeping with my daughter?"

"Mom!"

…

After having a very awkward conversation with her mom about 'the rules' which included having doors open at all times when the girls were in the same room and Brittany had to sleep on the couch when she stayed over, Mrs Lopez had told her, guiltily, that she would have to take some time to get used to the idea of her daughter being 'different' (her word). Mr Lopez had warmly welcomed Britt into their family which made the blonde beam.

Santana and Britt ended going back to Britt's place to have dinner with her family after they said a brief and happy goodbye to Dave who was grinning ear to ear, having heard their conversation. In the car on the way to the Pierce household Brittany placed her hand on top of Santana's on the steering wheel.

"San," she said quietly with her eyes on the road.

"Yeah, Britt-Britt?"

"I think I want to tell my dad," she whispered.

Santana was a little shocked but after a second she nodded and said a slow, 'okay'.

…

Brittany was unusually quiet at dinner; Santana took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze under the table to make sure she was okay. Britt looked at her with something akin to steely determination in her gaze. She turned to her dad who was happily slurping up his spaghetti on the opposite side of the table.

Santana's eyes widened when she realized what Britt was going to do. She knew Britt wanted to tell her dad about them but she didn't know the blonde was going to do it right now. Well, she guessed now was as good a time as any.

"Dad, Santana and I are seeing each other," Britt said in a rush. Mrs Pierce's mouth dropped open a little and her fork paused half way to her mouth. Indie stared at them with a cute smile and absolutely no idea what was going on.

Mr Pierce looked at them for a moment. He frowned and looked pretty confused. Santana knew where Britt got her personality from. She was basically her dad's female, hotter, clone.

"Um," he said, "okay." He continued eating. Santana's mouth dropped open.

"Seriously?" She asked, incredulously. "Your daughter just told you that she's dating a girl and you say 'okay'?"

Mr Pierce shrugged. He looked pretty nonchalant. "Better you than some boy that will get her pregnant." He shrugged again before smiling. "Besides, we already see you as family."

Brittany turned to San and grinned her megawatt grin before starting to eat again. Britt's family was positively awesome. Indie seemed to finally catch on now.

"Are San and Britty gonna get married?" She said excitedly.

**I hope you liiiiked it! Reviews would he majorly appreciated guys. I like knowing that people actually read what and like what I write hahaha anyways enjoy! :3 Might wrap this story up soon. I have it all planned out. It's so corny I luuurve it. Night guys!**


	17. Chapter 17

Santana lay on her bed, thoroughly chewing her pen and trying to focus on the math text book in front of her. At her desk sat Brittany loudly popping her gum and trying to study as well. Final exams were coming up faster than Santana ever thought they could. She was stressing enough over passing exams for herself but she was also trying to tutor Britt so she could graduate too. She knew Brittany was smart, just in a different way. It was so hard trying to get her to grasp harder topics like geometry and calculus. So far the only subjects Britts would be passing were gym and Spanish and Spanish only because she thought it was sexy when Santana spoke it to her. If only she could find Shakespearean English sexy.

"Britty?" Santana said sounding far off, "would you mind chewing your gum a little quieter, baby? I'm trying to concentrate."

Britt's face fell a little, "sorry, San." She turned back to her text book with a frown on her face. Santana looked up and it felt like her girlfriend's frown tugged at her heart. The Latina sighed and got up to make her way over to Britt.

"You okay?" She said softly, gently resting her hand on the blonde's shoulder. Brittany looked up with that adorable pout of hers.

"It's like all we do is study anymore Sanny and I just don't get any of this. What does pie have to do with a circle?" She sounded frustrated and defeated and Santana couldn't help the smile she gave her girl.

"Oh baby, here let me help you," she crouched down beside her girl and tried to explain. A few minutes later after trying again and again to help her solve the question, Santana could see the frustration glowing brightly in Britt's eyes.

"Do you get it?" San asked gently.

"No!" Brittany cried before swiping the heavy text book off the desk so hard it hit the adjacent wall. The dancer groaned and buried her face in her hands.

"Britt," Santana whispered as she tugged gently at the blonde's hands trying to gain access to her face. Brittany pulled her hands out of the brunette's grasp, stood up and stormed out of the room.

What the hell? Where did that come from? By the time Santana had snapped out of her initial shock and had gone to follow Britt she heard the blonde's car start up and pull out of the drive-way. San immediately pulled out her phone and tapped in Britt's phone number that she had memorized years ago.

The phone rung out and Santana got Britt's voice mail.

"Brittany? What the hell was that? Are you okay? Call me."

…

**Two days earlier**

Brittany sat awkwardly in the arm chair across from Dave in the lounge room. Santana was upstairs in the shower getting ready for their date that night so Britt was waiting for her. Brittany looked a bit glum which Dave found really weird. She was usually so chipper and talkative that he was really shocked that she wasn't going on about how awesome her cat was or something.

"Umm, Brittany, are you okay?" He asked hesitantly.

Britt shrugged and continued to look down at the ground with a frown on her face.

"Britt, what's wrong? D-do you want me to go get Santana or something?" This whole talking to girls about their feelings thing was a bit weird for him.

Brittany looked up and shook her head somewhat violently. She sighed. "I'm not going to graduate, Karofsky," she saw his mouth open to reply so she cut him off, "don't try to convince me that I am. We both it's not going to happen. San tries so hard to explain this stuff to me but I just don't get it!"

She paused and looked down at her folded hands. "What if she meets someone?"

Dave was so confused. "What do you mean, Brittany? What does this have to do with you not graduating?"

She rolled her eyes and leant back into the couch. "I don't care if I don't graduate. But what if, when San goes to college next year, she doesn't want to date a high schooler anymore?"

Worry shone in the blonde's blue eyes and she continued, "what if she meets someone at college, someone prettier than me, someone… smarter than me?" She finished in a voice that was barely audible.

"Oh, Brittany…" Dave was about to assure her that Santana loved her and he didn't think that she would ever leave the blonde when the Latina herself walked into the room dressed to kill. Her black dress was stunning and she grinned at Brittany who had a goofy smile on her face at the gorgeousness that was her girlfriend.

They both said their goodbyes to Dave and left for their Breadstix date hand in hand.

…

Santana stormed down the stairs and flopped down on the couch with a loud and frustrated groan. She buried her face in a pillow and let her hand, holding her phone, fall down beside her. Dave stared at her for a moment. Why did girls have so many problems? And why was it that he always managed to be around when they needed to vent? He sighed.

"You okay, San?" He asked gently from his position in one of the room's armchairs. He muted the TV and turned to face his friend. Santana grunted some words Dave couldn't make out into the cushion her face was pressed into. She then threw her hands into the air and groaned again.

"Yeah, I didn't catch any of that," he told her with an eye roll.

Santana rolled over so she was facing the ceiling and she threw up her hands again. "Bloody women!" She let out a little growl before sliding her phone open to see if she had any messages. "I've been calling Britts for an hour and she won't answer her damn phone!"

"Oh… did you guys have, like, a fight or something?" He asked awkwardly. Santana put her hands over her hands and moaned;

"I don't even _know _what just happened Karofsky. One minute I'm helping her with her maths, the next, she's yelling about how she doesn't get it and she storms out!"

Dave sighed; he was wondering when he'd have to come clean about what Brittany told him a couple days earlier. "San, Britt's worried that you're going to grow out of her when you graduate."

"What?" Santana asked shocked.

"She told me the other day that she's worried that you're going to get bored with her or something because… well… because she's not smart enough."

Santana was about to tear him a new one for calling Britt dumb but Dave interrupted by throwing his hands up in defence, "I didn't mean it like that. That's what _she _thinks."

The Latina slumped back into the couch confused. "She never said anything to me about this. She's never been worried about stuff like that before."

"Come on San, we're about to graduate. The reality of the fact that she isn't going to be spending almost all her day with you anymore has probably hit her really hard," he reasoned. "Just talk to her. Explain that you would never hurt her like that. You love her."

Santana stared at him for a moment then flopped back down on the couch. She slid her phone open again and dialled Britt. Once again she was sent to voice-mail.

"Britty," she said softly, "It's Santana… again. Dave told me what you said to him the other night. I know you probably don't want to talk tonight so just let me pick you up in the morning so we can talk. Britts, I love you and nothing is ever going to change that. Bye." She hung up.

David gave her a sympathetic look before asking, "You wanna watch a totally gay, rom-com to take your mind off things?"

Santana stared at him for a moment. She sighed, "'The Proposal'?"

Dave grinned, he knew her so well. He nodded and got up to rummage through the DVD rack to find the movie.

Apart from checking her phone every couple minutes and feeling disappointed when she had no messages from Britt, Santana had a decent night. Her and Dave ordered pizza and watched comedies until they both decided to go to bed so they actually had the ability to get up in the morning.

…

Santana rushed around getting ready the next morning, she threw on the first outfit she found, luckily for her she could even rock the jeans and tank top look. She bounded down the stairs and out the door before Karofsky could even ask for a lift.

"I guess I'm walking then," he murmured under his breath.

Santana drove at what could only be called a ridiculous pace until she slowed down at Brittany's street so it didn't look like she was rushing. She slowly pulled into the drive after waiting for Britt's dad to reverse out. He waved happily at her; she returned the greeting with a smile.

Brittany was sitting on the stairs staring at the car. She had her school bag beside her and as soon as San's car stopped moving she stood up and made her way over. When the blonde had settled into the car she was surprised when instead of driving away, Santana turned the key in the ignition and switched of the engine. The Latina turned to her girlfriend. She took the dancer's hand in hers and dipped her head to catch her eye. When Britt finally let herself make eye contact Santana took her chin and tilted it up so she could look the other girl full in the face.

"I love you," she whispered. "College isn't going to change that, Britt, I promise. I could never find _anyone _as special and incredible as you. I won't ever stop loving you."

A few tears had leaked from the corners of Brittany's eyes. "I'm sorry Sanny," she breathed into Santana's hair as she pulled her into an embrace.

"No," Santana pulled away to look at her girl again, "_I'm _sorry. I should be telling you every day how much I love you. You shouldn't ever feel insecure about us, Britty."

They hugged again, each revelling in the other's feel and smell. It was so familiar and they both knew that they would never get sick of being wrapped up in each other.

…

Santana and Britt had their math exam first up. They paused outside the door to the classroom. They kissed each other quickly before heading inside and taking their seats. As her test was placed in front of her by their teacher, Britt turned around and gave Santana a nervous look. San just smiled, winked confidently and blew her a kiss. Brittany smiled and opened her exam with a steely determination. She hadn't been nervous for herself. She knew there was no way she was going to graduate this year but Santana had to pass all of her exams and get good marks if she was going to get into the business administration course she had applied for.

Santana's wink had been enough to convince her that the Latina was pretty confident in her mathematical abilities. Contrary to some people's beliefs (Berry's), Britt knew that Santana was super smart.

She finished her exam pretty quickly, not knowing most of the answers. She was surprised that when she put up her hand for her paper to be collected she glanced backward and Santana, too, had her hand up. Her test paper was closed and she had a satisfied smile on her perfect lips.

Santana did awesomely in her math exam. There's just nothing else to say. She kicked its ass. When she asked Britt afterward how she went the blonde shrugged and said not well but she didn't seem sad about it at all. She was just happy that her girlfriend had done so well. It went like that for the rest of the day. In each period Santana had another test and she absolutely dominated every single one. One would look at the former cheerleader and not think her to be the most dedicated and intelligent student. But hey, she had Brittany to look after. She wanted to be independent after high school. She wanted an awesome job and she didn't want to rely on her parent's money after she graduated.

Her plan was to go all Lima Height's on high school's ass, get a full ride to the college of her choosing, get a part-time job, graduate from college with more kick-ass results, get an even more awesome job, provide for both her and Britt until the blonde got an epic job teaching dance (this was Britt's dream) and in about five or so years, when they had enough money, they would move out of San's parents' house and buy a house of their own. And finally, live happily ever after. Okay the last one might be a bit far-fetched but the rest San knew she could achieve if she tried hard enough. She wanted a good life for her and Britt and after doing so well on all of these exams she had a burst of hope that her dreams might actually come true!

When Santana told Britt of this plan the blonde had been a bit sceptical about living with San's parents until they were like in their 20's but San reminded her that her mom and dad basically lived at the lake house and would never be there. This satisfied Britt. Besides, she liked Dr Lopez and Mrs Lopez was a kick ass cook when she was around.

Santana really wanted Britt to go back to her place and stay there that night but the blonde just chuckled, shook her head and told her girlfriend that if she as there she knew they would just end up getting distracted and San wouldn't end up studying for the next round of exams the next day.

So Santana grudgingly drove her girl home and kissed her goodbye on her doorstep. The kiss went for a while seeing as Santana would just pull Brittany back into her arms every time the blonde would turn to go inside. It ended in Britts having a giggling fit and pushing San away so she could make her escape into the house before the Latina could kiss away more time that she could be using to study.

When San got home she was greeted with an eerie silence. Dave was usually home by the time she got home from dropping Britts off on the days the blonde didn't come over. One of the guys from Glee club usually gave him a lift when Santana didn't. She would usually hear him making himself something to eat, watching an action movie way too loud or talking on the phone with Blaine and Kurt. It was really cool to see how well he had started to get along with those two boys.

Santana quietly dropped her school bag next to the door and made her way into the lounge room where her jaw dropped in surprise.

"Mikael?" She breathed. The man beamed at her from the couch before standing to envelope her in a huge hug.

"Hello, my baby cousin," he said into her hair as he spun her around once before setting her back on the ground.

Santana snorted and rolled her eyes, "You're only a year older than me Mikael, and I'm hardly a baby. What are you doing here?"

"That's what I wanna know," said a gruff voice from one of the armchairs. Santana looked over to see Karofsky scowling at them with an ice pack pressed to his jaw.

"Holy shit, Karofsky what the hell happened to you?" Santana asked.

Dave just death glared Mikael. The tall boy threw up his hands in defence. "Hey I just came inside and saw a random guy chilling in your spare room, I thought he was like a robber or something!"

"So you hit him?" Santana asked, shocked at her cousin's rash behaviour. "Jesus, Dave are you okay?"

Dave shrugged, "I've had worse."

"Mikael what the hell, man?" She rounded on her older cousin with anger in her eyes. The Latino man had a look of guilt written on his tanned face. His deep brown eyes conveyed how sorry he was.

"I didn't mean to, it was an instinctual reaction, I swear," he said. "Listen – Dave is it? – I'm sorry for hitting you, really, I was just startled."

Dave grunted softy before shrugging again, "Lucky you hit like a girl."

Mikael cracked a grin at this and ran a hand through his short black hair. Santana thought that Dave would have been way more pissed off at being punched in the jaw than he was. Weird. Oh well, first things first.

"You didn't answer my question, Mikael," she said, "what are you doing here?" After seeing the expression on his face she quickly added, "Not that I'm not happy you _are _here." 

Mikael smiled again, he really was a happy guy. "There's no way I would miss my own cousin's graduation!" He pulled her into another bone crushing hug.

…

After getting Mikael set up on the couch, Santana left him and Dave to watch TV while she went upstairs to study. They seemed to really be hitting it off, even though Mikael had just punched Dave in the face. Her dad really should have told her that he was coming so she could have given Dave a proper heads up.

She pulled her heavy ancient history text book out from under her bed and cursed herself for being stupid enough to choose that course. She had only just finished and handed in a 3000 word essay on the Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamen and now she had to study for the unseen essay exam the next day. She would occasionally hear an exceptionally loud crash coming from whatever movie the boys had put on.

She spent the rest of the night hard at work, sometimes taking a quick break to send a text message full of kisses and hugs to Britt. She refrained from sending anything more… hmm 'interesting' to her girlfriend for fear that she would get too distracted from her goal of learning everything she could about the Mayans. Eventually she was satisfied with the effort she had put in and that she would get a good mark on the exam tomorrow. She slid the text book that she was so happy to be seeing the last of, back under her bed where, hopefully it would stay for ever. She then retired to bed, sending one last good night text to Britts.

…

Dave laughed as a car in the movie they were watching did a very unrealistic flip into a big brick wall. The car exploded into a fireball and he heard Mikael's laughter join his. He looked over to the other boy who was sitting sideways on the other armchair with his legs draped over the arm rest. He had a soda in one hand and the other was resting on his stomach as he laughed.

Dave had to admit that he was pretty cute with his soulful brown eyes, tanned skin, dark, soft-looking hair and his lean and muscular physique. Dave was shocked when he found himself staring into those deep chocolate eyes. Mikael had one eyebrow raised and a small smile on his lips watching Dave watch him.

"You okay, bro?" He asked with mirth in his eyes.

Dave flushed and looked back to the TV. He shrugged, "fine, man."

…

Mikael offered to drive them all to school the next morning. Santana asked him to stop by Britt's place to pick her up and he was happy to oblige. He and Britts had always gotten along when he came over for visits on school holidays when they were younger. Santana was a bit nervous though, about what he would think when he found out what the true nature of hers and Brittany's relationship was. She wouldn't hide it, of course. After realizing that in order to keep Britt happy and, well, to be happy herself she had to come out of the closet, there was no way in hell she was going back into that dark, cramped, shameful place. Brittany deserved better and if telling Mikael that she was dating the blonde meant that she would be judged by him, then so be it. Britt came first.

They pulled up at Britt's house and she bounded down to the car. She leaned in the window and gave Mikael a huge kiss on the cheek and a dazzling grin before pulling the back door open and sliding in next to Santana. She smiled at Dave before leaning over to kiss Santana softly on the lips. When they pulled away, San chanced a look at her cousin. He was staring at her with wide eyes in the rear view mirror. After a second a slow smile spread over his lips and a look of… relief? He grinned and started up the car again before pulling out of the drive-way and driving at reckless speeds to the school. Driving like a lunatic was apparently a family trait they shared.

After he skidded to a halt outside of the school, drawing a few eyes, Dave and Brittany hopped out of the car saying goodbye to Mikael, San was about the follow suit when he grabbed her arm gently. He gestured with his head to Britts who was waiting for Santana at the foot of the stairs leading up to the front entrance of McKinley.

"I'm happy for you, cousin," he said with a smile. His face then clouded over and it looked like his mind was far away. He was looking in the direction of Dave and Britt as he said, "I just hope you will be happy for me." Santana was about to ask him what he meant when his focus snapped back into place, along with his winning smile. "I'll see you this afternoon?"

Obviously being dismissed, Santana frowned and got out of the car. Her attention was immediately horded by Brittany wrapping her arms around her neck and pulling her close for a searing kiss. Santana could faintly hear Dave's gagging noises in the back ground but she was pretty wrapped up in her own little world.

At the end of the day Santana was feeling pretty amazing. She was pretty sure she had just aced all of her exams and was pretty keen grab her sexy girlfriend and kiss her senseless. They were going to be graduating in a week. Well Santana and Dave were. They were still unsure about Britts.

…

**Graduation Day**

Santana was holding Brittany's hands and looking into her beautifully bright blue eyes. The blonde was ecstatic. She had _just _passed enough of her final exams to be allowed to graduate. She was so excited and she owed it all to Santana who had been so patient with teaching her. Blaine, Kurt and Quinn had also helped but San had just been incredible.

Santana looked over to where Dave was standing beside Mikael. They had really bonded over the past week and the Latina was glad to see that they had become really good friends. Mikael had a hand on Dave's shoulder and it looked like he was telling some terrible joke, as he usually did.

She looked back at Britts and smiled at her. She leant in and kissed her softly on her wonderful lips. They were told to take their seats after that. Half of the seniors were called up one by one in to receive their graduation certificates. There was a brief space in between the first group getting their certificates and the second group getting theirs, in which people would perform. Sue's Cheerios did an amazing routine with fire and other things that weren't exactly safe. Santana felt a pang of something, maybe jealousy; while she watched the girls perform. Although it was so much better being in Glee club than Cheerios, she still missed performing up there. After the Cheerios Rachel got up in her sparkly dress and sang a show stopping ballad that even pulled at Santana's heart strings. When the dwarf made her way back down the hall to her seat Santana whispered to her; "Nice singing, Yentl." She made eye contact with the other girl and made sure she understood that she was being sincere.

When it was finally Santana's turn to go up on stage and get her graduation certificate she looked out at the crowd and her eyes immediately found Brittany's. They grinned at each other before Santana saw her mom waving excitedly at her from beside her dad, who was beaming proudly, and Mikael who gave her a little smile and then turned away. It looked like he was looking for something. Or Someone. Directly after Santana was Dave. Obviously whoever made the order for them to go in hadn't properly learnt their alphabet. San stopped to watch him cross the stage. When he spotted he smiled nervously and she gave him thumbs up. He then looked out into the crowd and, after spotting something, his grin widened and all of his nervousness disappeared. Santana frowned and looked out at the audience. She spotted her cousin grinning broadly at her Dave. They staring directly at each other, grinning like fools. Her eyes widened. No. Her cousin wasn't gay was he? Surely he would have told her. Well, she hadn't told him about her until just last week so she guessed it wasn't _too _far-fetched.

Holy crap, her cousin and her best friend were totally going to hook up. That's totally trippy. Santana took her seat with a dazed expression she was only shocked out of when Britt skipped across the stage to accept her certificate. She shook Principal Figgins's hand, took the piece of paper from him, and turned to face the crowd, beamed at her parents and sister before locking eyes with Santana. The Latina hadn't thought it was even possible for the blonde's smile to get broader but it managed to do just that when she looked at her girlfriend. Brittany then turned and skipped off the stage.

…

The whole glee club met up after the graduation ceremony and Dave made his way immediately to Mikael who was standing to the side with San's parents. This didn't go unnoticed by Santana who was still shocked at her revelation. She had other things on her mind though. Things like the beautiful blonde that was running toward her at that exact moment. Brittany was squealing with delight shouting, "I did it! I did it!" Santana didn't have time to tell Britts to slow down so she had to brace herself for the glomp of the century. The force of Britt's hug sent them back a couple steps but Santana managed to remain standing. Asphyxiation had never been so lovely. Britt's cuddle was cutting off Santana's air supply but she was so proud of her girl that she just didn't care. They held each other for a while until Britt loosened her hug, letting Santana take in much wanted air, and pulled away to kiss her Latina girlfriend firmly on the lips.

"We did it San," she said softly, "we survived high school, and nothing brought us down. We did that, and now we can do anything."

Santana smiled back. "We can do anything because we have each other, Britt-Britt… I love you."

Brittany rested her forehead against Santana's and breathed, "I love you too."

**Second last chapter guys. Next chap will be sort of an epilogue/future chap. Hope you enjoyed! Sorry about mistakes this is just way too long for me to be bothered checking over :P BYE FOR NOW!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Last chapter EVER. I really appreciate those of you that you have read, enjoyed and reviewed this story. Be prepared for cuteness. Oh and I just watched Mash Off :'( poor Santana, I could not imagine something worse than being forcibly outed like that.**

**Five years after graduation**

Santana was in the bedroom that belonged to both her and Brittany. It used to be her parents' room before they sold the house to the young couple and officially moved into the lake house. The Latina was casually throwing clothes into a large suitcase lying open on their big Queen-size bed. Brittany would be home soon and she wanted to have finished packing most of what she needed so it would be easier for them to leave on time in the morning. She held up a vibrant purple lace bra, trying to decide whether or not to take it with her. At that moment she heard the rumble of Britt's car in the drive-way. After tossing the bra onto the pile of clothing in the suitcase she pulled the bedroom door open and stepped out into the hallway.

Her heart was beating a little faster than usual. Even faster than it did when she was around Britt-Britt. She was excited and a little nervous. Her whole plan was hinging on whether or not Brittany liked her surprise. If she did, she would be getting quite a few more over the next couple of days.

She entered the kitchen to see Britt leaning against the counter taking a swig out of her water bottle. The blonde was all sweaty and was wearing not much of anything. Just the way Santana liked her. She had just gotten home from the studio and when she got home she would usually just toss her shirt into the laundry and go pass out on the couch for an hour or two.

Santana smiled at her girlfriend and waited for her to turn around and notice her standing in the doorway. It didn't take the dancer long and when she did notice the brunette watching her she squealed in delight, tossed her bottle onto the counter and bounded over to San to wrap her long arms around her.

"Ewww, Britts you're all sweaty," Santana complained half-heartedly, not really caring. She didn't let go when Britt pulled away from her. The blonde laughed and kissed San's neck gently before moving to her lips. The Latina sighed into the kiss before resting her forehead on Brittany's.

"How was your day?" San whispered.

Britt smiled softly, "it was pretty awesome. Mr Schue brought the Glee kids in for booty camp." Santana raised her eyebrows.

"Really? How is good old Vest-man?" She asked.

Britt chuckled, "he's, like, ecstatic. He just found out that Emma's pregnant."

Santana's eyes widened. "Seriously? Damn, go Mr Schue and his show-tune singing swimmers. Anything else interesting happen today?" She asked casually.

Britt thought about it for a moment, trying to remember what else happened in her day. "Umm, I don't think so."

Santana tried again, "did anyone say anything to you? Maybe about work?"

Britt looked like she suddenly remembered something. "Oh! Mike was acting all weird and he told me that I should take a few days off because we didn't have many bookings or something and that he could handle it himself but I was like 'nah, it's okay I want to come in and help', but he said 'nah that's okay Britt you go home and spend some with Santana' so I was like 'okay'."

It took Santana a couple of seconds to soak in all of the information Britt had just spewed out. Did that girl even need to breathe?

"So you're staying home for a few days?" Santana asked, grasping the general gist of what her girlfriend had just said.

"Yup," Britt replied with a cute smile. Perfect. Everything, so far, was going to plan.

"Nope," Santana corrected, "neither of us are staying here for the next few days." Brittany would have been worried if not for the excited smile on Santana's face.

The Latina untangled herself from her girl and crossed the kitchen to the microwave. She had known that it would be the perfect hiding place from Brittany because the blonde had never actually mastered the use of the machine so she usually opted to avoid using it.

Santana pressed the open button to release the door, which sprung out to reveal a long white envelope. She removed it and handed it over to Brittany who gave her a suspicious look before sliding a long finger under the seal to open it. Once the envelope was opened she pulled from it two tickets. The blonde frowned at them.

"These are plane tickets, San, two of them to LAX!" She suddenly looked worried. "How did they get in the microwave, Sanny?"

Santana looked at her for a moment trying to gauge whether or not she was being serious. "I put them there, Britt-Britt."

The blonde looked more confused than ever, "why?"

"They're _our _tickets Britt. You and me are going to California!"

…

A good thing about Britt was that she was up for just about anything. Even if it meant making last minute holidays to another state when she didn't even know why. Another good thing about her was that she didn't ask too many questions. They left at about 11 that morning and after arriving at LAX they picked up a rental car and drove to the hotel Santana had booked about two months ago.

"How did you get time off work so easily, San?" Britt had asked on the way in the car.

Santana shrugged, "I asked for time off ages ago," she looked at her girlfriend, "I've been planning this for a while." She had even asked Mike to not schedule as many dance lessons during these few days so Britt could have time off and they could go on this trip.

When they got to the hotel, Britt was in awe of how nice it was. It was really big and it only took them like half an hour to get there from the airport. After checking in at the front desk they were shown up to their room and then left alone. They spent the rest of the afternoon snuggling and watching movies on the big TV in their room.

…

The next morning it took Brittany a moment to remember where they were, she rolled over to look at Santana who was lying face down on the bed with a pillow over her head. Britt giggled and pulled the pillow off. She leant down and planted little kisses on the back of San's neck. She didn't stop her little kissed until she heard Santana groan.

"What time is it?" Her question was slightly muffled by the pillow her face was pressed into.

"Hmm," Britt looked over to the alarm clock, "about nine."

There was a long silence and Britt became worried that San had fallen back asleep, until the brunette abruptly rolled over and pulled the dancer down into a hug. "Morning," she whispered before letting go and rolling out of the bed. Brittany watched Santana walk to the bathroom; she had on nothing but a pair of short shorts and a singlet and was being super sexy with her messy hair.

Brittany giggled and rolled onto her back to stare at the ceiling. It was totally random and _so _cool that Santana had arranged for them to go on a surprise trip to California! She had always been super nice like that. Britt's happy day dreaming about how amazing her girlfriend was, was interrupted by her cell phone ringing from the bedside table. She reached, grabbed it and flipped it open without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello-o!" She sang into the phone. Santana popped her head out of the bathroom to look at Brittany.

"Who is it?" She managed to ask through a mouth-full of tooth paste.

Britts covered the mouth piece of the phone and mouthed 'Rachel'. Santana rolled her eyes and scoffed before spitting out her mouthful and rinsing. The Latina wiped her mouth and walked back into the bedroom to choose an outfit for the day. She was going to take Britt-Britt shopping! She entered the room just in time to hear Britt ask, "Has she done what yet?" The blonde looked confused and Santana's eyes widened as she darted across the room and snatched the phone from Brittany's grasp.

"Shut it, Dwarf!" She hissed into the receiver.

"Hmph!" Rachel replied, "I'm taking that as a no? I wouldn't have given it away you know, I was just checking."

"Rachel." Santana said slowly, trying not to lose her cool. "Do yourself a favour and don't call either of us again. Like, ever!" After seeing the judging expression on Brittany's face, Santana sighed and added, "I'll call you when we get back to Lima. Bye Yentl."

She hung up and tossed the small device onto the bed next to Britt who was staring up at her expectantly. "What did she mean by, 'Has she done it yet?'?" Santana almost laughed at Britt's attempt to mimic the Diva's voice.

"I have no idea, baby," Santana lied, "I don't speak hobbit."

Britt frowned, "you're so mean, San!" She whined. Santana smiled and leant down to kiss the blonde.

"Not to cute blondes," she whispered.

…

After they had both showered and gotten dressed, Santana took Brittany out to do some shopping. She couldn't help but be reminded of Regionals their senior year. It was hard to believe that there was a time that she hadn't been out and proud about her relationship with Britt or that there was a time that she had disliked Kurt, Blaine and Karofsky. Well, she kind of disliked everyone but Brittany back then.

She was so glad that they had all gotten to be friends and formed a group. Kurt and Blaine actually didn't live too far away from them and Karofsky had moved to Texas with Mikael. They still talked on the phone all the time and would go and see each other on holidays and such. They were one big gay family. It was pretty awesome.

Anyway, back to shopping. They hit as many stores as they could before their feet were killing them. After grabbing some Chinese take-out for lunch they headed back to the hotel.

Almost immediately after they had finished their meal and were getting ready to go downstairs to have a swim in the hotel's massive pool, Santana received a text. Brittany watched the Latina's face as she read the text. It lit up with excitement but dropped a little when she saw Britt watching her.

"Umm," Santana said, "I actually have to go out for a little bit, Britt."

Brittany frowned. "Where?"

Santana shrugged and grabbed her coat off the back of a chair she had hung it on. "To see an old friend. I won't be long, an hour – two at the most." She kissed Britts n the cheek scooped up her keys and handbag from the kitchen bench and was out the door before Brittany could ask any more questions.

**...**

Britts was a little upset that Santana had left her alone in their hotel for hours without really giving her a decent explanation to where she was going. She trusted Santana of course but it still hurt they had had gone on a romantic vacation together and Santana had just left her there alone without warning.

When Santana got back she was grinning broadly and walked straight into the bedroom. She was in there for a little before she came out, sat on the couch next to a slightly annoyed looking Brittany and kissed the blonde firmly on the lips. "I'm sorry," the Latina whispered, not sounding sorry at all. But all traces of annoyance were wiped from Britt's mind the moment Santana's hot lips collided with hers again. They stayed on the couch for a while, just kissing, before Santana stood them up and lead Britt into the bedroom.

…

Brittany was awoken by the smell of wonderful, wonderful food. She breathed in deeply before opening one eye and smiling at a sleep mussed Santana standing in the doorway. She had a tray of assorted breakfast food in her hands and she smiling fondly down at her girlfriend. The brunette crossed the room and placed the tray down on the bedside table before sitting on the edge of the bed while Britt moved up into a sitting position. Santana pecked her lightly on the lips and set about pouring a glass of juice for Britts from the pitcher on the tray. She had gotten pretty good at carrying heavily loaded trays around when she worked at Breadstix during college.

"What's this for?" Asked a pleasantly surprised Brittany. Santana grinned and kissed the dancer again.

"Does there have to be a reason for me to make the love of my life breakfast in bed?" She asked.

"I think so…" Britt replied slowly. Santana smiled and laughed. These were both things she had started to do a lot more of once they graduated high school.

"Okay, you can take it as an apology for waking you up so early," Santana said with a smile.

Britts frowned, "what time is it?" She looked over to the alarm clock and her jaw dropped when she saw that it was only six o'clock. Santana smiled sheepishly at Britt's expression.

"Sorry, we need an early start if we want to get all the things I have planned for today done is all," the brunette apologized.

"What do you have planned?" Brittany asked suspiciously.

Santana grinned evilly, "It's a surprise, now finish your breakfast, you'll need the energy."

…

Once Britt had finished eating, they got ready to leave. Brittany was wearing a cute yellow sundress that fluttered around her knees and before they left Santana kissed her and told her how beautiful she looked.

They were in the car for a while before Britt started seeing the signs. Big billboards with a picture of Mickey Mouse giving the thumbs up and behind him in big cartoon letters, 'Disneyland'. Brittany looked over at Santana who was watching her with a hopeful smile on her face.

"We're not…" Britt whispered in disbelief. Santana's grin widened and she nodded.

"We are."

Brittany let out a high pitched squeal and launched herself at Santana, who grunted and tried not to swerve too much. Britt let go and started bouncing up and down in her seat with a huge grin on her face and her hands clapping together in excitement.

"I love you, I love you, I love you!" She cried.

Santana laughed and took the exit to get to Disneyland.

…

As soon as Santana had bought their tickets and they were through the big gates, Britt's eyes widened and she spun in the spot, just staring at everything around her. She looked like a kid in a candy store. She grabbed Santana's hand and started pulling her one direction; she had seen a sign for the Lion King exhibit. She shouted 'Lion King' a couple times while towing San along behind her. Santana stopped moving, which pulled Britt up in surprise, she looked a little confused.

"Is everything okay?" She asked softly.

"Yeah, but can we go see the Lion King exhibit later? You know, saving the best for last and stuff," she replied softly. Britt thought she looked a little tense and slightly green.

"Yeah sure," Britt replied. She was happy to do whatever San wanted to do.

They walked around the theme park going on any rides they could find, visiting all of the attractions and buying copious amounts of useless novelties. Brittany's smile never once faltered from her face. She linked her fingers with Santana and swung their arms between them as they walked. She was so happy and once they had both fallen into a fit of giggles at hugging Goofy, Santana started to relax. It was turning out to be an extraordinary day. Santana hoped that it ended with a bang.

Santana took Britts to a little café in the theme park to have lunch. It was kind of expensive and Santana insisted on paying for everything. She had on her 'I'm getting my way' look so Brittany didn't argue too much. Santana was being so cute today. Doing nice things like pulling out her chair and she even smiled and helped and old woman who had dropped her bag. It was sort of scary.

After they had seen pretty much everything they could see, they started heading toward the Lion King exhibit. Santana, who had been talking, smiling and laughing all day, had suddenly quietened and had a greenish tinge to her tan cheeks. She looked nervous. Brittany slipped her hand into the Latina's.

"Are you okay?" The blonde asked softly. Santana looked at her.

She swallowed and turned her attention back to the entrance to the exhibit. They had stopped moving. "I'm fine," she whispered.

"We don't have to go in if you don't want to," Britt told her. This startled the brunette. Not going in there was not an option. This had to be done. She wanted this so badly, she just hoped she didn't screw it up.

Santana shook her head quickly, "I'm fine. Let's go." She tugged on Brittany's hand with a look of determination on her face. They entered the exhibit and walked around for a while. Soon they came to a large circular deck with a stage set up to one side. There was a band assembled on it. Brittany had heard about this place, it was where they played all of the Lion King songs.

Santana had stopped and was looking over at the stage. She took a deep breath and turned to Britt. "Wait here," she said before spinning on her heel and walking over to the stage. She pulled something out of her bag and showed it to the conductor before taking a position in front of the microphone. She faced out at Brittany and some other people had stopped to watch the impending performance.

Santana looked nervous which was weird; she never usually got nervous before performing in front of crowds. She had been acting weird all day. Britts hoped that she was okay. As soon as the instrumental started up she recognised the song immediately. Santana was going to sing her favourite song to her.

Santana's husky voice soon filled the air. Her voice was filled with emotion as she sang everything she was feeling to the only person she would ever love.

_There's a calm surrender to the rush of day  
>When the heat of the rolling world can be turned away<br>An enchanted moment, and it sees me through  
>It's enough for this restless warrior just to be with you<em>

_And can you feel the love tonight  
>It is where we are<br>It's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer  
>That we got this far<br>And can you feel the love tonight  
>How it's laid to rest<br>It's enough to make kings and vagabonds  
>Believe the very best<em>

_There's a time for everyone if they only learn  
>That the twisting kaleidoscope moves us all in turn<br>There's a rhyme and reason to the wild outdoors  
>When the heart of this star-crossed voyager beats in time with yours<em>

When the song finished and the music trailed off, Santana stepped straight off the stage and headed over to where Brittany was standing. She took the blonde's hands in her own.

"Britt… do you remember the first time we talked? We were eight years old and you came up to me in class, and asked me why I was colouring my duck in purple. At first I was kind of pissed off that someone had the nerve to question my mad colouring technique. But I looked into your perfect, baby blues and I just couldn't speak. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I remember your adorable red dress with the polka dots and the little pink bow nestled in your perfect wavy blonde hair. I looked into your eyes and I just couldn't be mad at you. I remember it so clearly because that was the moment I decided that we were going to be friends."

Brittany didn't know where this was coming from but she remembered it too. She even remembered that little smudge of dirt on Santana's nose and how her tongue poked out as she concentrated on colouring inside of the lines. Britt's hands had started to become sweaty and she didn't know why. She was a mixture of nervous and excited and she wasn't sure what she was nervous or excited about. Santana went on,

"Next thing I knew, we were in middle school. I thought Quinn was my best friend and that you were just a backup that I hung out with whenever she was busy. It was like that until one day I had a massive fight with my parents. I called Q and I wanted to talk to her about it but she was too preoccupied being wooed by that big oaf, Finn. Out of nowhere you were there. I can't remember if it was me who called you or it was you who called me but you were there stroking my hair and telling me it was okay while I cried. No-one had ever done that for me. It felt amazing to feel so cared about. It was then that I realized that you were going to be my best friend and that you would be in my life forever."

Tears pricked in Britt's eyes as she remembered how broken Santana had seemed, lying in her lap sobbing uncontrollably. It was the first time Britt had ever seen her show anything beneath her tough, strong exterior. It was the moment she realized how sensitive Santana actually was.

"Then came boys, and boys, and boys. By that stage we both kind of dance crazy. We had gone to watch a high school football game and were immediately enthralled by the Cheerios. When I look back at it, I probably wanted to join so much because of the hot girls in short skirts, but at that point in time, I just wanted to be a freaking cheerleader. We were both a year away from high school and being able to even try out for the Cheerios, but we started rehearsing our routines and everything. When my parents weren't home, which was a lot, we used to dance around my lounge room, trying our hardest to imitate the cheerleaders. You remember that day, Britty? That day we both had our first kiss? We were fooling around, dancing to some hip tune and just being silly. We were watching some dancing show and were trying to do the waltz or something. I remember spinning you out then back in again. Suddenly you were so close and holding you like that seemed so right to me. Kissing you in that moment was just so… I dunno, so _magical_, so _natural._ It just felt like the right thing to do, you know?"

Santana was looking deep into Brittany's eyes now. Their hands held between them. There was so much emotion in the brunette's eyes. So much truth.

"So I did it and freaked out almost immediately. You kind of froze; I think I may have scared you a little. I was about to pull away and I was already thinking of a thousand excuses as to why the hell I had kissed you, when you kissed me back. I guess it was my turn to be too shocked to move. You leant away from me and _smiled. _It was just like you to smile in a situation so serious Britt, so like you that I couldn't help the smile on my face too. You said three words to me that sealed the deal. I had just realized that all that time spent so close to you had been making me fall for you when you said, 'It's okay, San,' and kissed me again. With that my fate was sealed and I _knew_ that I was in love with you."

There was no way Britt would ever forget that first time Santana had kissed her. It was quick, but so soft, gentle and meaningful. She had to admit that she had kissed a fair number of people in high school. But not a single one of them had compared to kissing Santana. She had always thought that their lips had just fit together, just like their hearts did.

"In senior year, you remember that time when you were upset because you didn't think you were graduating? Remember when we were sitting in my car and I told you I loved you and that I would never find someone as special as you? Seeing you so upset because you thought you were going to lose me made me realize that I never wanted to be without you. That was the moment I knew that we were going to spend the rest of our lives together Britt-Britt. I want us to do that.

"We've come so far from me hiding our love away in the dark recess of my very own closet. My own hell. You saved me from hating myself with just the power of your love. I am so in love with you Brittany S. Pierce and I want to be with you until we're both old and grey and living off money Berry will send us once she hits the big time."

Brittany laughed at this, as a few tears streamed down her cheeks. Santana swiped them away with a careful thumb before swiftly dropping to one knee. Britt heard gasps all around her but she herself was too shocked too even move. Santana took one the blonde's hands in her own. With her free hand, Santana reached into the inside of her jacket pocket and pulled out a small black box. Brittany could feel her eyes getting wider and wider and her heart beating faster and faster.

"Britt, baby… I don't want there to be a single day that I don't get to see you or kiss your perfect lips. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Brittany… will you marry me?" Brittany's jaw dropped and her whole face went slack. Santana stood up quickly, worried about her girlfriend.

"Britty, are you okay?" She asked gently, hoping she hadn't killed her girlfriend by proposing.

Brittany was staring straight down at the glittering jewel set in the gold band Santana had produced from the box. Things started clicking for Britt then; the random holiday, Rachel's phone call, Santana disappearing for a couple hours the day before and all of the nervousness today. Her heart gave a lurch at the thought of how much effort Santana had gone through to make this perfect. And it was just that. Perfect. But then again, Santana could have proposed anywhere, at any time, and Brittany would have thought it was perfect. Still, it was so magnificently sweet that she felt herself starting to cry again.

People all around them were staring, waiting for a reaction. Santana was actually pretty worried. From all the movies she watched, crying wasn't exactly the reaction you wanted to get when you proposed to someone. Her worries were swept away, however, when Britt looked up from the ring with fierceness in her eyes, grabbed the front of Santana's shirt and pulled the Latina into her. She pressed their lips together heatedly.

Once she had thoroughly kissed her girlfriend, Brittany pulled back and whispered, "of course I'll marry you." The crowd that had gathered around them burst into applause, clapping and cheering for them. Santana grinned as she slipped the ring onto one of Brittany's fingers. The dancer threw her arms around Santana's neck and they stood like that, just holding each other for a while. In that moment everything was perfect.

…

After they had left the theme park, hand in hand, Santana drove them back to the hotel while Brittany was on the phone telling every single person she knew about the proposal. When they pulled up at the hotel, Britt had just finished talking to her mom. She had this glow about her and she was smiling from ear to ear. They walked into the building with their pinkies linked, smiling sweetly at each other.

"So," Britt said once they had entered the elevator, "what are we going to name our kids?" Santana just looked her before the doors to the lift closed, shutting them off from the rest of the world.

**Okay, so I obviously know nothing about Disneyland. Deal with it :P but I hoped you all enjoyed the final chapter of Suspicions and I hope you can find the time to comment and let me know whether you liked it etc. Love you guys! **


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